Work and Play
by Neko-Salosa
Summary: Post EXE Fic. Netto and Enzan are adults and living their own lives. How will they cope with one another when they're apart and together? Shounen Ai [Finished]
1. Default Chapter

"Netto-kun, are you almost done?" Rockman asked in a slightly bossy voice.

Netto paused from typing on the keyboard long enough to give his navi an annoyed glance, then he continued working on the program he was writing. "I need to finish this," he said while looking at the screen.

"Maybe if you didn't put it off till the week before," Rockman started but he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Both navi and scientist looked up to see Enzan standing in the doorway. "Some things never change, do they?" he asked, grinning.

"Enzan!" Netto said happily. He stood up and went over to his old friend. "Back from Ameroupe so soon?" he asked.

"We closed the deal earlier then expected," Enzan said while letting Blues into Netto's computer.

"So things went well?" Netto asked, leaning on his desk.

"You could say that," Enzan flashed Netto a grin that made the brunette blush.

"So, Netto-san didn't start the project when Enzan-sama told him to?" Blues asked Rockman in a quiet voice as the two humans chatted.

"No," Rockman said, burying his face in his hands. "He has a deadline in two days and only 75 of the program is done!"

"Netto-san waited that long?" Blues asked. "That's a little much, even for him."

"He doesn't listen to me!" Rockman said. "He just waves his hand and says 'tomorrow' and I say 'this isn't school Netto-kun, its real life.' Does he listen to me? Nooooo."

Blues gave Rockman and sympathetic smile. "Well, Enzan-sama might be able to do something," he said.

"You are aware I can hear everything?" Netto asked, slightly annoyed.

Rockman sighed. "We wouldn't be talking if you did what you were supposed to when you were supposed to."

"Hey, I've got everything under control!" Netto said.

Enzan and Blues watched the exchange like silent ping pong spectators.

"Netto-kun, you are a brilliant scientist but you still treat your job like its college. Its not!" Rockman said.

"I know that," Netto retorted.

Enzan and Blues finally got the incentive to intervene. "Okay Netto, just how much of this do you have left?" Enzan asked.

"25," Rockman muttered.

Enzan's blue eyes widened.

Netto glanced at him wearily. "Oh no, I know that look. Don't you yell at me too," he said.

"Well, anything I say this late in the game is pointless," Enzan said tightly. "When did you start this?"

Netto shrugged sheepishly, "Last Wednesday?"

Enzan sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Of course."

"Hey, I don't need you to tell me how to live my life," Netto said hotly.

"Someone does," Rockman muttered.

Enzan took his hand off his head. "All right, I'll leave you to finish your program. But be home by 11 okay? I'm calling to make sure," he warned.

"Fine fine, I'll be home at 11," Netto said.

Enzan walked out of the office and down the hall. "Worried, Enzan-sama?"

"Worried doesn't cover it," he muttered while waiting for the elevator to arrive.

"What's wrong?" Blues asked.

"He's going to kill himself, working the way he does. All this stress and god knows what else is going to hurt him in the long run," Enzan said.

The elevator arrived and he stepped inside.

"Maybe he does it to keep his mind off things. The only time he waits is when you're here. If you're not then he just works like normal," Blues said.

Enzan gave him a strange look, "How do you know this?"

"Rockman told me, Enzan-sama," Blues said calmly.

Enzan leaned against the elevator. "Well, I'm sure it's not entirely because of that."

"You put off work too, Enzan-sama," Blues added.

Enzan frowned, "Blues, that's enough."

"Yes, Enzan-sama."

Back in his office Netto was typing furiously on his keyboard. "Come on," he muttered.

Rockman was in the net doing his share of the programming. "You know, maybe if you didn't fawn after Enzan all the time and just said how you feel this wouldn't happen," he muttered.

Netto's fingers froze on the keyboard and he stared at the screen intently. "Rockman?" he asked.

"Yes, Netto-kun?" Rockman replied.

"Shut up," he said and continued to type.

"All I was saying…" Rockman said.

Netto sighed, "Look, I know what you were saying. But we have a program due on the board's desk in two days and talking does not get it written faster."

"All right, Netto-kun. But you're saying something after this is over."

"Yeah right," Netto said.

Later that evening Netto dragged himself away from the computer for a much needed coffee break.

"Tired Netto-kun?" Rockman asked.

"Shut up," Netto said sourly with the cup of brown liquid poised at his lips.

"I'll take that as a yes," Rockman said in a slightly nervous voice.

Netto sighed, "Sorry Rockman. I'm just a little stressed."

"Coffee really won't help," Rockman pointed out.

Netto shrugged and drank it. "I don't care. It keeps me awake for the time being."

"Don't forget your promise to Enzan," Rockman warned.

"What promise?" he asked.

Rockman sighed, "That you would go home at 11?"

Netto eyes widened, "Oh, that. Sure thing Rockman. I just want to finish the next part, okay?"

"All right Netto-kun, but make sure we're out of here at 11?" Rockman asked.

"I promise," Netto said.

The next morning Enzan came into Netto's office in a silent rage. He never came home the previous night, that he was sure of. He stormed past a harried looking secretary and didn't even answer when she gave him a cheery "Good morning Enzan-sama!"

He went straight to Netto's office and opened the door. "Wake up, Netto."

Netto was fast asleep, sprawled over papers on his desk and his navi was in a similar state in the computer. Upon hearing Enzan's entrance Rockman started to awaken. Netto however was lost in dreamland.

"Nh?" Rockman babbled sleepily. "What time is it?"

Blues appeared next to him. "8:30," he replied.

"Oh my god!" Rockman said.

Enzan walked over to Netto and shook him awake. "Five more minutes, mama," he muttered.

"Up," Enzan said coolly. "Now."

Netto's eyes snapped open at the recognition of the voice that currently sounded like it could freeze water. "E-enzan!" he said nervously. "Heh, good morning?"

Enzan glared at him with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, I never made it home yesterday," he laughed.

"Obviously," Enzan said dryly.

"Well, hey, got the program done!" Netto said happily.

"You did?" Enzan asked in a surprised voice.

"You did?" Rockman asked, even more surprised.

Netto rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Yeah, I finished it after you fell asleep, Rockman."

"What happened with going home at 11?" Enzan asked.

"Well, plans change," Netto said. "And now I have two blissful days to sleep. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm dropping this off and going home." Netto stood up and picked up his PET. "See ya Enzan."

Enzan watched as Netto walked past him and disappeared down the hall. "Blues?" he asked.

"Yes, Enzan-sama?" Blues replied.

"White out my schedule today, I'm going to have a talk with Netto."

"Yes, Enzan-sama," Blues said and did just that.

OOOOOOO

okay, this is a post exe fic that I started. Tell me if you want me to continue or just leave it as a nice one shot :3


	2. The Bet

Netto walked into his house and was immediately greeted by his cat and dog whining for food. Netto groaned and Rockman wouldn't hear it. "You make the worst pet owner ever, I swear. You left them for a day without food!"

Netto walked into the kitchen and pulled out the cat and dog food. "Rockman I left extra, see there's food left in the bowls," Netto said a pointed to the bowls.

"And water?" Rockman asked.

"There's water left too, Rockman. See, I'm not so bad, besides if it bugged you that much why didn't you yell at me last night?" Netto retorted. When he didn't receive and answer he snorted and said, "I thought so."

Rockman huffed, "Hey, just I don't yell at you as much as Enzan does about the way you live doesn't make it right."

Netto snorted and poured the dry kibble into the bowls. Almost immediately the cat and the dog sprinted to them and started eating furiously. "Don't you dare start harping on me. Not now," Netto said.

Rockman crossed his arms. "I'll save it for when you're in a better mood," he said.

Netto inclined his head almost mockingly, but not quite. "Thank you," he said.

The corners of Rockman's mouth quirked in a small smile. "No problem, as long as you promise me you'll go to bed."

"Fine, but you have to go into stasis mode too. We're both tired," Netto replied while filling up the water bowls.

Rockman nodded, "I still can't believe you finished that program without me."

Netto smiled coyly at his navi, "Who said I need you help?"

"Hey!" Rockman said.

Netto laughed and went into his bedroom. Rockman followed in the cyber version of Netto's house. Since they had been younger there had been many advancements to the cyber world. One of which being that all houses had a cyber replica that the navi's could live in. It was nice and Rockman enjoyed having the illusion of being so close to Netto.

They both climbed into bed and Netto turned off the light. "Good night, Rockman," he said while pulling the covers over his body.

"It's morning, Netto-kun."

"Whatever," Netto muttered and pulled the sheets over his head. In a matter of minutes both were fast asleep.

Enzan couldn't escape one meeting and he was very upset about it. He spent the whole time fidgeting in his seat and giving frequent glances to the clock as if he was in a coring class. The board directors he was meeting with did not appreciate it.

"Are we boring you, Enzan-sama?" one of them asked.

"Yes," Enzan said absentmindedly as he gazed at the clock. Then his blue eyes widened, "No! I mean no! I'm sorry, I tried to take today off because of other pressing matters that I should be attending to."

In the net Blues shook his head from side to side in a honest effort to not laugh.

"Well, Enzan-sama, be that as it may I and the other board members would appreciate it very much if you would kindly, pay attention!" he barked.

Enzan nodded, "Yes, of course. Please continue."

The man in his mid fifties cast a weary eye on the young president. True he had over 14 years of experience but he was still very young. And it showed up all too often, or so he thought.

"Now as you see here, we've had a steady increase of sales in our electronics but our software hasn't been selling well. I would like to offer a few suggestions that would help this." He pulled out a packet that was 20 pages long. "Now if you turn to page three I have outlined the exports and imports of all electronics all over the world, the ones in red are from IPC."

Enzan gave a silent groan and did as he was told. Some days it just wasn't worth it to be Enzan Ijuuin.

Enzan finally got out of the meeting around noon. Three hours after he made his vow to yell at Netto for blatantly ignoring him and staying at work all night. It was probably for the best as his temper was quite subdued and he no longer felt the need to scream at the top of his lungs. He just felt the need to talk in a loud voice.

"Enzan-sama?" Blues ventured.

"Yes Blues?"

"Do you think going to Netto-san's is the wisest decision right now?" Blues asked.

Enzan frowned, "What makes you say that, Blues?" Enzan asked.

"Well, you seem very," Blues paused. "Uptight, Enzan-sama."

"I'm fine Blues, I need to talk to Netto."

"But," Blues started.

"I said I'm fine," Enzan said.

Blues sighed. "Yes Enzan-sama." He silently wrote an e-mail to Rockman warning him of the impending doom. Maybe they could get out before Enzan got there.

Too bad they were both fast asleep.

Enzan went straight up to the comfy looking one floor house and knocked on the door loudly. "Netto, I know you're in there. Open up!" he said.

There was no reply but the loud barking of Red. Enzan sighed and tried again but again there was no answer. "Maybe they're not here?" Blues said innocently.

Enzan narrowed his eyes and didn't answer. Instead he rooted around in the mail box until he found a key. "He always leaves it there, even though I tell him not to," Enzan murmured. He inserted the key into the lock and went into the house.

Almost instantly he was attacked by Netto's dog and cat. He pushed the dog off of him and knelt down to let Sitio smell his fingers so the cat wouldn't tear him apart. "Maybe he doesn't need to hide the key," Blues said.

Enzan smiled wryly. "Yeah, he should just have a big sign that says, 'Enter at own Risk.'"

Sitio rubbed his head against Enzan's fingers briefly and then lumbered off into the dark house.

"Maybe they really aren't here?" Blues said again.

Enzan shook his head, "No, they're here. Netto was up to late last night to not be in bed." And to prove his point Enzan went into the next room and pointed at Netto's inert form on the bed. "See?"

"Yes, Enzan-sama, I do see. Maybe you should leave them alone for now," he suggested.

Enzan sighed. He gazed at Netto's sleeping form for a bit longer then retreated into the living room. "I'll lecture him when he wakes up," he said and flipped on the TV. Sitio came in and jumped into Enzan's lap almost immediately and he was followed by Red not long after.

Around 2:30 Netto woke up and ventured out into his living room to see Enzan sitting there and watching "Arsenic and Old Lace" on TV. Netto glared at him, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Enzan flipped off the TV and stood up. "You know very well why," he said.

Netto's hair was pushed to one side and his eyes had a tired look to them. He was still in the clothes he wore the previous night, they were rumpled and the overall effect showed Netto as being worse for the wear. "I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered.

Enzan narrowed his eyes. "Yeah right, Hikari! I told you to go home at 11 and you gave me your word. Then you pull and all nighter? What kind of promise is that?"

"I finished the program didn't I?" Netto asked airily.

"That is irrelevant!" Enzan steamed.

Blues silently went into the net to search for Rockman. He was still asleep and Blues decided to wait for him to wake up. He shut off the sound program so the yelling of the two men wouldn't wake him up. Someone deserved sleep after all.

"Look, I wanted to make sure I wasn't working till 11 for three nights okay?" Netto said heatedly. "This isn't even any of your business to begin with!"

"Netto you promised me! Not only did you promise me but you said when we were out last week that you started the program. Now why would you say something like that?" Enzan retorted.

"I knew I could finish it! Who are you to tell me how to live my life?" Netto asked.

"A very good friend. Look Netto, you're hurting yourself doing this. Not only you but Rockman as well," Enzan said. Netto shifted and he knew he hit a soft spot. "Netto, I'm not trying to be mean but living like this will only hurt you in the long run."

Netto crossed his arms. "Well, maybe so. But as I recall when we were kids you would do the same thing."

Enzan nodded, "And you would yell at me. I guess I'm a horrible role model."

Netto snorted good naturedly. "You flatter yourself."

"Ah, maybe so, but do you deny that you're starting to do everything you yelled at me about when I was younger?"

"I still yell at you," Netto said.

"See!" Enzan said. Netto shut his eyes in annoyance because he knew he lost the argument. "That's what I mean."

"Well, how about this then, how about we make a deal," Netto said.

"Such as?" Enzan asked.

"You and I promise to leave work at the same time every day. We will plan out our projects together so we're not in crunch time and we can still hang out. When we're on business trips we'll call each other to make sure the other isn't cheating," Netto said.

Enzan stroked his chin thoughtfully. "That's a surprisingly good idea," he mused.

"Let's make it a tad more interesting," Netto grinned.

"I'm listening," Enzan said, not missing the mischievous glint in Netto's eye.

"First one to mess up has to do whatever the other one says for a week."

"Oh, come on, that is so overused," Enzan said.

"Because it's so good!" Netto retorted.

"Fine! I'll do it!" Enzan said.

Netto nodded, "Good, good."

"Now you have to do something right off the bat," Enzan said.

"Such as?" Netto asked.

"Take a shower and change your clothes. I took off the rest of the day, do you want to go get dinner?"

"Curry?" Netto asked.

Enzan shook his head and smiled. "What else?"

"I'm in!" Netto cheered.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Oh how I love writing this. I think this will be an ongoing fic :3


	3. Curry

Netto and Enzan walked into Maha Ichiban with their PET's in hand. They were greeted by Dekao who was at that point one of the main Chefs of the Maha Curry chain.

"Greetings, may I suggest our seafood special," he started then saw who it was that walked in. "Netto!" he said in a happy voice. "And Enzan too," he quirked an eyebrow. "This is a surprise."

"Got him to take off work," Netto laughed.

Dekao laughed, "Wow, what did you do?"

"He stayed up all night to finish writing a program when I specifically told him not to," Enzan muttered.

Madoi came up behind them. "Ah! So, you got angry and the brat here and now you two have kissed and made up and came for curry in celebration!" she said happily.

"No!" Enzan and Netto said quickly.

Madoi laughed, "It's a figure of speech you two. Come on, it's been awhile since we've seen you Netto, lunch is on the house if you'll tell us what's been going on in the science world lately." 

Netto eyed the curry Dekao was stewing hungrily. "Deal," he said. 

Dekao laughed and poured some out onto two dishes of rice.

Netto took it hungrily and started to chow down. Rockman and Blues wandered into the Cyber version of Maha Ichiban to see Gutsman behind the counter. Ever since the dress up chips were invented, the navi persona based off of humans had only gotten stronger. Now there were food chips that allowed navi's to taste to some extent. The system was far from perfect but it was still there.

"Do you wish to have anything, de-gutsu," Gutsman asked.

Rockman and Blues shook their heads and sat down. They were soon joined by the WWW navi's and they listened in on the conversation in the real world.

"So, what was the program?" Hino-ken asked.

Netto shoved another spoonful of curry into his mouth before he answered. "Well, it was a computer program that is going to eventually help run the new telescope at the Sci-Labs Observatory," he said. "It supposedly is so strong it can see things about 300,000 more light years away then the strongest current telescope."

"That's sounds pretty neat," Dekao said giving Netto another plate.

Netto took it and began eating. "It sounds neat, it was a pain in the ass to write, right Rockman?"

Rockman nodded. "Yeah it was. First of all the language had to be universal just in case any other labs wanted the program."

Enzan winced, he didn't realize what Netto was writing. "Binary?" he asked.

Netto nodded, "Oh yeah. It was evil."

"And you finished it in a week," Enzan muttered. "How do you do it?" 

Rockman smiled, "I could answer that, but you'd kill both of us." 

Enzan blinked, "You didn't," he said.

"Rockman, shut up," Netto said.

"Sorry," Rockman said nervously.

"Did what?" Madoi asked.

"Nothing," Netto, Enzan and Rockman all said at the same time.

Madoi raised an eyebrow but did say anything.

"One week?" Elec asked. "How did you finish it in one week?"

"Hard work?" Netto said laughing and ate some more curry.

Before Enzan could say anything Hino-ken laughed. "So, you waited till the last minute again."

Netto smiled sheepishly. "Guilty as charged."

Mahajorama smiled. "You'd be in trouble if the world knew that the scientist that designed half of the programs that run most of today's appliances liked to procrastinate as much as you do."

Netto rolled his eyes and finished off his second plate of curry. "I get enough from Meiru, Jasmine, Laika and Enzan thank you very much." 

"How is Jasmine anyway?" Dekao asked in what he hoped was an offhand voice.

Netto smiled. "She's fine. She just opened her own herbal medicine shop in Choina. She sent us a picture of it last week."

"O-oh, can I see?" Dekao asked.

"I'll e-mail it to you when I get home," Netto said.

"Speaking of which, we should probably go home," Enzan said and set his spoon down on a half eaten curry plate.

"Awww, I'm fine," Netto said flashing a broad grin.

"Need I remind you just how late you stayed up last night?" Enzan asked. 

"Night?" Rockman asked.

"You're not helping," Netto said.

Madoi laughed, "Ah, so it was crunch time eh?"

Netto rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No! I have two days left before the dead line," he said.

"So," Hino-ken reiterated. "It was crunch time."

Rockman laughed, "Pretty much."

Elecman laughed, "Well, at least it was finished."

"Exactly! See!" Netto said. "That's right Elecman, thank you."

"So, it doesn't make it right about the fact that you were up until 6:30 AM finishing a program," Enzan said.

"Not true," Netto said. "I was only up till 5:30."

Enzan rolled his eyes and Madoi laughed. "That's the spirit." 

"Please," Rockman said. "Don't encourage him."

"I second that," Enzan said dryly.

Madoi chuckled and stood up. "Well, I guess we should get back to work. Nice to see you two again."

Netto stood up and picked up his PET. "Nice seeing you again too. We'll be back soon," he called as he walked out of the restaurant.

"I don't doubt it," Mahajorama smiled.

/ 

"Where to now?" Netto asked.

"Home?" Enzan said. "To sleep?"

"Hey, you were the one that woke me up, remember?" Netto said.

"Uhhh, no. I waited till you got up on your own. You woke up," Enzan said, 

"Whatever," Netto muttered.

Enzan sighed, "I know you're still tired. You should try and get decent night's sleep."

"It's still day," Netto pointed out.

Enzan rolled his eyes. "Fine, we'll stop and get some ice cream. Then you'll go home and go to bed."

"Deal," Netto said happily.

They went to the ice cream stand and got two large chocolate milkshakes. They drank their cool treats in silence until Enzan decided to speak up.

"Netto?" 

"Mmm?" Netto looked at Enzan with the straw still in his mouth making him look very cute and causing Enzan to look away blushing.

"Did you really do 'that' to finish the project?" he asked.

Netto sighed, "Only a little. And Rockman helped a lot too. Don't worry; I know what I'm doing."

Enzan sighed, "I know. But you know that is kinda of dangerous."

"No it's not," Netto said.

"He's right, it's not," said Rockman. "It's part of him, Enzan. Part of us. Don't worry, I'd never let Netto intentionally hurt himself."

Enzan smiled and took another sip of the creamy drink. "You two still worry me though."

Netto finished his off with a loud slurp and sucking noise that was very annoying. "Well, we never asked you to worry."

Blues chuckled silently as Enzan steamed. "You never… now listen here!" he started before he realized Netto's was walking away looking for a trashcan.

Enzan caught up with him but before he could say anything Netto spoke. "Oh relax will you? I've got two days off now so I can relax all I want."

Enzan sighed. "You better not do this again."

"I can't," Netto grinned. "We made a bet, remember?"

Enzan smiled back. "I remember. Now we should get home. You promise to go to bed?"

"I promise!" Netto said.

Enzan gripped Netto's arm. "Do you really?" he asked again.

Netto pulled himself from Enzan grip. "Yes really, that's part of the bet remember? Now I have some catching up on sleep to do. See you tomorrow Enzan!" Netto waved and walked down the street.

Enzan sighed, if only it was as easy as a bet.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

New update! Hope you liked it!


	4. Worries

Netto went home and immediately crashed onto his bed. Within minutes he was fast asleep, Rockman however wasn't so ready to go to bed. He stay up looking at Netto through the monitor link and once he was sure Netto was asleep he took off through a private link that Blues had given him long ago.

He appeared in a rather large room that was Blues' personal homepage. It was designed to have a bed, two comfy chairs, a fireplace and lots of books. Blues loved to read and many of the old classics adorned the cyber shelf's pages. There were only two people besides Blues in the world that had a link to this webpage, Rockman was one and Enzan was the other. Rockman came here only when he needed to talk with Blues in private and he knew that as soon as he went into the webpage, Blues would come.

Sure enough, not a minute after Rockman appeared in the comfortable room did Blues appear right in front of him. "Hey," Rockman smiled.

"Is something wrong?" Blues asked.

Rockman sighed and sat in one of the chairs. "Enzan-san and Netto-kun are starting to worry me a bit."

Blues raised an un-seeable eyebrow. "What brought this on?"

"That bet. Blues you know how competitive they are! And stubborn," he added as an afterthought. "Look, not that it's a bad idea but well…" Rockman struggled for the right words. "The way Netto-kun works is the way he has worked since he got this job. I hate to say this but he works better under pressure and so does Enzan-san."

"It's not healthy, for Enzan-sama or your brother," Blues said softly.

"I know!" Rockman threw up his hands. "Heaven knows I know. I tell Netto-kun day after day to get into a different style of living but it just seems…"

"Rockman, are you worried about their working habits or their relationship," Blues said.

Rockman looked at Blues a bit stunned then smiled. "You know me way to well. Are you sure you can't read minds?"

"Not the last time I checked," Blues gave a wry smile. "If I could then maybe I'd know what Enzan-sama was thinking."

"That'd be nice to know," Rockman said dryly.

"What's your real concern?" Blues asked.

"Blues, you'd have to be a fool to not see that Netto-kun and Enzan-san have feeling for each other," Rockman said.

Blues nodded. "Except them, trust me, everyone knows this."

"Well, my concern isn't the relationship; god knows they deserve each other. But let's say that they do get together, with their current jobs, could they handle it?" Blues opened his mouth and Rockman shook his head. "Blues, you will be the first to admit that Enzan-san works as much as he possibly can because of his high status. Netto-kun regardless of his," Rockman smiled, "Procrastination issues also works a lot. I just want to know if maybe they could actually handle a relationship…"

"You sounds like an overly worried mom," Blues said with a hint of a grin.

Rockman winced, "God, I do don't I?"

Blues nodded.

Rockman took off his helmet and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I don't know Blues! I've worried about this for a long time. It just seems, and trust me this is weird to admit about Netto-kun, but it seems that they are both obsessed with work."

Blues pulled the second chair over across from Rockman's and sat in it. "Maybe they are obsessed with work because they don't feel they have anything else to spend time on."

Rockman gave Blues one of the most skeptical looks he had ever seen. "Netto-kun, not have anything to do?"

"It's a theory," Blues said.

Rockman shrugged, "Well, I can see Enzan-san doing that, but Netto-kun… do you really think that's it?"

Blues shrugged, "Only time will tell. Personally I think that this bet is a good idea. They will be forced to meddle in one another's lives because we know they don't trust each other."

"And with good reason," Rockman muttered.

Blues coughed. "Be that as it may, I'm just putting out the idea that maybe they have so much work because," Blues' lips twisted. "This sounds really cheesy, but because they don't have each other."

Rockman's eyes widened as he fought down laughter. "Wow Blues, I didn't know you had it in you."

"You can stop now," Blues said.

Rockman smiled and stood up. He stretched and got ready to link out. "Maybe you're right; maybe this will be good for them."

Blues nodded and walked over to Rockman's chair. He picked up Rockman's helmet and tossed it over to him. Rockman caught it and grinned sheepishly. "Be patient Rockman, I think our operators have a bit more sense then we tend to give them credit for."

"Netto-kun could have fooled me," Rockman said dryly as he put his helmet back on. "Bye Blues," he said and waved.

Blues lifted his hand and Rockman left the room. Blues stood there for a few seconds with his hand still raised before he gave a sigh and exited the room himself.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rockman entered his own webpage as Netto was waking up. "Morning sleepy head," Rockman said.

"Shut up," Netto muttered.

"Feeling the aftereffects of last night?"

Netto groaned and flopped back first on his bed.

"Muscles stiff?" Rockman asked.

"Can you feel it?" Netto replied.

"A little," Rockman admitted.

Netto yawned again and sat up. He rubbed his eyes and looked over at Rockman. "Where were you, by the way?"

"I just went to talk to Blues," Rockman said.

Netto grinned evilly. "Oooohhh," he said in a knowing voice.

"What?" Rockman asked.

"Nothing," Netto said.

Rockman crossed his arms and glared at Netto. "What?" he asked again.

"Nothing, nothing," Netto said easily and stood up. "I think I'm going to take a bath," he said. "Can you send Enzan an e-mail telling him that I'll meet him on the boardwalk tomorrow? That is if he wants to come."

Rockman nodded and started to write the e-mail. He sent it and mere minutes later he received a reply. "Netto-kun!" he yelled to see if Netto could hear him. Rockman sighed when there was no reply. No doubt Netto had the radio station turned up as loudly as he could.

/Netto-kun/ he said mentally.

/Yes/ Netto replied.

/Enzan-san said he'll meet you by the Seaside Café tomorrow/ Rockman said while glancing at the e-mail to make sure he got the place right.

/He replied already/ Netto asked a bit puzzled.

Rockman grinned even though Netto couldn't see it/I guess he's looking forward to tomorrow/ Rockman said.

/I guess/ Netto replied.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

An hour later Netto ordered pizza and he and Rockman crashed on the couch and played a rousing game of Racecar. Rockman as always defeated Netto in one humiliating race after another. At his third loss Netto dropped the control and took a furious bite of pizza.

"Netto-kun, why on earth do you play these games against me when you know you'll loose?" Rockman asked while trying not to laugh.

"Because one day I'll beat you," Netto said grumpily.

Rockman snorted.

"It's true! I'll beat you and then you can stop teasing me every time you beat me," Netto said.

"And, after ten years of playing this game you think you'll beat me why?" Rockman asked.

"Shut up," Netto muttered.

It was about 11:30 when Netto and Rockman turned in. Netto flopped onto his bed for the third time that day and Rockman lay down in his own bed. They said good night and all the lights went out.

At 12:51 Netto was lying in bed and still wide awake. He was on his back staring at the ceiling with his hands cupped behind his head.

/Netto-kun/ Rockman asked sleepily.

/Yeah/

/What are you doing up/ Rockman asked.

/I can't sleep/ Netto said.

Rockman blinked. "You can't what?" he said out loud.

"I guess I slept too much today," Netto said sheepishly.

Rockman groaned and pulled his pillow over his head with a loud thumping sound. Only Netto.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Awww, how cute! Okay, nice Rockman being a worry wart, (cause he is) and some exposition and if you look REALLY carefully, foreshadow. Hope you liked it :3


	5. Calcium

Netto finally managed to fall asleep about 1:30 but it still took its toll. "Wake up," Rockman said from his PET.

Netto groaned and turned over in his bed pulling the pillow over his head so he couldn't hear anything. Rockman crossed his arms and shook his head. /You really think that's going to accomplish anything/ Rockman asked him mentally.

Netto glared into the bed sheets. /No, but you could have pretended it would/ Netto muttered back.

/Netto, you promised you would meet Enzan today, remember/ Rockman said.

Netto shot up in bed. "I forgot," he said.

"Not surprising," Rockman said. "Oh, by the way, it's 10:30 so I'd get a move on if I were you."

"Ah!" Netto said and practically fell out of bed in his hurry to get out of it. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" he cried as he ran out of the room.

"I did," Rockman said. "You turned over and fell back asleep."

"Well, try harder!" Netto said.

Rockman sighed. "Netto-kun, I'm not your babysitter," he pointed out.

Netto came into the room brushing his teeth. "No but you're my navi and older brother," he said in a muffled voice.

Rockman shrugged. "Netto-kun, I'm not responsible for you."

Netto gave his navi a death glare and stalked out of the room laving Rockman to have a small laugh at his expense.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto managed to get dressed and ready to leave in ten minutes. He grabbed Rockman's PET and ran out of his house at breakneck speed. "Netto-kun, Enzan isn't going anywhere," Rockman reminded him.

Netto slowed down as he got to his car. "I knew that," he said sheepishly as he unlocked the door.

Rockman gave a knowing smile that Netto couldn't see. "Right," Rockman said.

Netto sighed and put the PET into the slot for car navigation. "Rockman, can you send an E-mail to Enzan telling him that we might be a little late."

"I already did," Rockman said.

Netto smiled, "Of course you did," he said while starting the car.

Rockman booted up the navigation systems of the car. "Hey, I'm still a navi, besides I didn't want it to seem like we just forgot him even though I have the feeling that he would wait there all day for you."

Netto frowned as he backed out of the driveway. "What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Just call it close observation," Rockman said.

"Close observation of what?" Netto asked.

"Nothing, Netto-kun," Rockman said amazed at how thick Netto could still be.

"What?" Netto asked.

Rockman shook his head, "Nothing, nothing," he said. "Keep your eyes on the road," Rockman said when Netto gave his a confused look.

Netto snapped his gaze back to the road in front of him. "Are you keeping something from me, nii-san?" Netto asked.

"Of course not," Rockman said angelically.

OOOOOOOOOOO

They pulled into the Seaside Café at 11:15 which wasn't bad considering when Netto woke up. He went into the café and was hailed by Enzan who already got a table. "Should we just get lunch?" Enzan asked.

"Sorry," Netto muttered while trying to cover a blush.

Enzan waved a hand to dismiss it, "Don't worry, I expected it." He ignored the glare that Netto gave him by looking at the menu.

"He had breakfast, didn't he?" Rockman quietly asked Blues.

"Yes," Blues replied.

Rockman smiled. "Well, at least we made it. You okay?" he asked Blues.

Blues looked at Rockman's sharply, "I'm fine. Why?"

"You seem a little tight," Rockman said.

Blues smiled to try and put Rockman at ease. "Oh, I was just thinking about," he paused, "Things."

Rockman nodded. "I understand," he said.

"So, what are you getting?" Netto asked.

"I don't know," Enzan admitted. "There's a lot of fish."

"It is a seaside café," Netto said.

"Thank you for pointing that out," Enzan said dryly.

"You're welcome!" Netto said brightly.

Enzan rolled his eyes and glanced at the menu again. "What are you getting?" he asked.

"Clam chowder," Netto and Rockman said simultaneously.

Enzan blinked, "What, no seafood curry?"

Netto shook his head, "Of course not. I go to Maha Ichiban for curry. I come here for chowder; Masa-san makes really good chowder."

"Hmmm," Enzan said. "I've never been here before, is it good?"

"I just said it was," Netto replied.

"I'll get chowder too then," Enzan said putting down the menu.

Just then a man in his mid fifties came to the table. He was dressed in a simple blue outfit with a large apron with a big fish on it. "So, what will it be?" he asked in a loud voice.

"Two clam chowders please, Masa-san!" Netto said happily.

Masa eyed them. "Good, your friend looks like he could use some calcium."

Netto tried not to go into a laughing fit while Enzan blinked uncertain of what to say. "Masa-san, that's Enzan. You've met him before."

Masa peered at Enzan, "Oh! Yes, I remember you. Glad to see you here!" he said and walked away.

"Masa-san's eyesight isn't what it used to be," Netto said before Enzan could ask. "But he refuses to admit it so…" There was a loud crash behind them as Masa ran into the counter.

Enzan rubbed his forehead. "Why won't he get glasses?"

"He says calcium will fix his eyesight," Netto said. "The only one who can even get him to wear sunglasses is Miyuki."

Enzan rolled his eyes. "Why is he still working here then?"

"He owns this place," Netto said.

Enzan blinked, "He does?"

Netto nodded. "Yeup, he's owned it for about ten years.

"I… didn't know that," Enzan said.

Netto nodded. "Saloma-san and Miyuki-san re-opened their shops about five years ago. They come in here to check on Masa-san often. I think Miyuki has almost broken him down into getting glasses. He just found out he can't fish if he doesn't have a boating license and he can't pass the test with his eyesight."

Enzan nodded. "That makes sense."

A girl came out and gave them the bowls. "Here you are," she smiled and went back behind the counter.

"Smells good," Enzan said.

Netto nodded happily, "I know." He took a large bit and chewed on it thoughtfully. "What do you want to do after this?" he asked.

Enzan was still blowing on his soup. "I don't know. I thought you said you wanted to go on the board walk."

Netto nodded, "Yes, but where on the board walk? They're a lot of places to go to."

Enzan took a bite of the creamy soup, it did taste very good. "I've never been on the boardwalk here, know any places?"

Netto shook his head. "It's amazing, you've been here how many times and yet you've never been on the boardwalk."

Enzan blushed, "I'm a busy man, Netto."

"I know," Netto said. "How about we just walk on it and see what's out there," he said.

Enzan nodded, "That sounds good."

"Maybe we'll meet some people," Netto smiled.

"Are you planning something?" Enzan asked, suddenly very cautious.

"No," Netto said. He glanced at Enzan who was giving him a 'really?' look. Netto sighed, "Look, today is Saturday so Meiru, Tohru, Shuuko and Tohru are probably off work. Maybe even Dingo is here. That's all," Netto said.

Enzan nodded, "That sounds," he paused. "Fun," he finally said.

"Good," Netto smiled and they finished off their lunch.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Masa is back :3 So is everyone else. Ahhh, this is going to be so much fun to write XP


	6. Mejinsan

Netto stretched happily in the sunlight as they walked down the boardwalk. "It's nice out," he said.

Enzan felt the salty sea breeze play on his face. "It is," he agreed.

"Hey, Enzan?" Netto glanced at the taller man with a questioning look in his eyes.

"Yes?" Enzan replied.

"How did you get off work today?" Netto asked.

"Well, I cleared my schedule last week to meet my dad, but…" Enzan's mouth twisted. "Something came up."

Netto looked at Enzan with pity in his eyes, "I'm sorry," he said softly.

"It's always something," Enzan sighed. "But at least I can keep an eye on you," he said glancing at Netto.

"I don't need to be babysat," Netto huffed.

Enzan smiled and nodded his head, "Yes you do."

Netto stuck his tongue out at Enzan and looked around the boardwalk for something to do. "Well, Mr. Broody, what do you want to do?"

"I don't… know," Enzan said slowly.

Netto looked around and saw the ocean spray crash on the sand. "Wanna go walk on beach?" he suggested.

Enzan looked at the increasing tide warily. "Maybe later," he said.

Netto poked Enzan in the shoulder, "Awwww, come on, the ocean is nice and cold in the morning."

Enzan sighed, "Netto, I don't think we should be going onto the beach during high tide."

"It's not high tide," Netto said giving Enzan an odd glance.

"It's not?" Enzan asked.

Netto smirked, "No, high tide is at 5 pm. It's," Netto glanced at his watch, "12:45."

Enzan frowned at the beach. "Did the water always come in so far?" he asked.

Netto looked at the beach, "Do you try and find conspiracy in everything you do? Or is it just me."

Enzan crossed his arms, "I just thought it was weird, that's all."

Netto rolled his eyes, "It's the beach Enzan, maybe there's a little storm out at sea making the waves a little higher then normal."

"Oh," Enzan said.

Netto sighed and grabbed Enzan's wrist. "Come on," he groaned and pulled Enzan off the boardwalk and onto the beach.

"Netto," Enzan said softly.

Netto took off his sandals and held them in his hands. "It's not bad," he called to Enzan.

Enzan took off his shoes and socks and waded into the surf to stand next to Netto. "It's cold," Enzan observed.

Netto raised and eyebrow at his friend, "Thank you captain obvious," he smirked.

Enzan glared at Netto but didn't say anything in return.

"Well, it's only 1, what do you want to do?" Netto asked.

"Why do you always have to be doing something?" Enzan asked exasperatedly.

"I don't know," Netto laced his hands behind his head, "I just like to be busy I guess."

"Unless you're asleep," Rockman said from his PET.

Netto grinned, "Yeah, unless I'm asleep."

Enzan rolled his eyes, "Don't you ever just want to, relax?"

Netto looked at Enzan with both his eyebrows raised.

"Right, forget I asked that," Enzan muttered.

"Well, if you want to relax, then why didn't you just say you wanted to?" Netto pointed out.

"Because, I wanted to spend the day with you. But you always have to be moving around or doing something," Enzan said, trailing off.

Netto waded in front of Enzan. "Do you just want to get a couple of movies and hang out at my place?" Netto asked.

Enzan looked in Netto's brown eyes, they looked earnest enough. "No tricks?" he asked.

Netto sighed, "Now what kind of person do you think I am?"

"I'm not answering that," Enzan said quickly.

Netto scowled at Enzan. "Well if you don't want to…" he said.

Enzan shook his head, "I didn't say that. Are you sure it will just be us and our navis?"

Netto nodded.

"No, friends randomly showing up?" Enzan asked.

"I only did that for your birthday," Netto said huffily.

"Will there?" Enzan pressed.

Netto sighed, "No. I promise."

Enzan smiled, "All right then, sure why not?"

"Yay!" Netto said and they walked out of the cold water. "What movies do you want to get?" he asked.

"How about the Starpotter Trilogy?" Enzan asked.

Netto nodded, "Sure, I haven't seen that in forever."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

They stopped by the nearest video rental store and got the movies they agreed on. Then they drove back to Netto's house. Netto opened his door with the key in the mailbox and they were both immediately attacked by Red and Sitio. "Get off," Netto yelled at his dog, "I live here, remember?"

Red barked and trotted to his food bowl where he sat down and began to whine. "I'll start the movie," Enzan said and took the bag with the movies in it from Netto.

Netto made a face and looked in his cupboards for the kibble, "I'll get the popcorn," he said.

Blues and Rockman both immediately crashed on the couch in front of the cyber screen that was connected to the TV. "This will be fun," Rockman said happily. "It's been awhile since we've just laid around the house. Only time Netto-kun does that is when he's really tired or Enzan is here."

Blues chuckled, "Netto-san likes to be active?"

Rockman sighed and leaned into the couch, "You have no idea," he said.

Netto pulled the hot popcorn out of the microwave and walked over to the couch. He jumped on it, right next to Enzan, making him bob up and down. Enzan glared at Netto, "You can be such a kid," he said.

Netto smiled and offered him the popcorn bag, "Want some?" he asked.

Enzan took a handful and they both settled down to watch the movie. "Heh, remember when Videoman sabotaged all the DVD's of the second movie?" Netto asked.

Enzan rolled his eyes, "Too well," he muttered.

Netto happily ate some more popcorn as the movie continued to play.

All four silently watched the movie as it wore on and after the second movie Netto began to get tired. "What time…" he paused to yawn, "what time is it?" he asked Enzan.

Enzan looked at his watch, "7:30," he answered.

"Oh," Netto said.

"Tired already?" Enzan poked at him. "I remember when you could watch all three of these movies without even getting up to stretch."

"Shut up," Netto said grumpily. He pushed himself into the couch and kept his eyes on the screen. "I'm not tired."

"Could have fooled me," Blues said quietly to Rockman.

Rockman sniggered softly but didn't say anything.

The third move was only half way over when Netto fell asleep with his head on Enzan's shoulder. It was only 2/3 of the way done when Enzan fell asleep with his head resting on Netto's.

"So they were both tired!" Rockman exclaimed.

Blues laughed quietly. "Apparently," he said.

Rockman stretched his arms over his head and stood up. "Well, should we wake them up?" he asked.

Blues looked at them and shook his head, "I think they're fine the way they are," he said.

Rockman nodded, "I agree, now all I need to do is lock the house…" he muttered but he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Who would be at Netto-san's house now?" Blues asked.

Rockman shook his head, "I have no idea," he mused. He opened a video link and saw a tall man in his late 50's glancing around. Rockman sighed and went to the video monitor on the outside of the door. "Hello?" he asked politely.

The man looked at the monitor and nodded, "Hello, is this the home of Netto Hikari?"

"It is," Rockman said evenly. "Who might you be?"

The man pulled out a worn looking PET and pressed a button; a small circle of light came out and glowed with the insignia of NV on it. "I'm Commander Ishiyama, of the Net Vigilantes; I'd like to have a word with your operator, Rockman."

/Netto-kun/ Rockman pressed his twin.

Netto groaned and opened one eye. /What/ he sighed.

Another man came out from the car and walked up to the door way. He whistled and then waved at Rockman. "Don't worry, we're just here to chat," he said cheerfully.

"Mejin-san!" Rockman exclaimed.

"What?" Netto said out loud.

Mejin's lips quirked, "The formality isn't needed."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Oh, for those of you who don't get the "Starpotter" gag, it was started in Rockman Axess when Videoman came around the second time? Those DVD's, the movie was called "Starpotter Reloaded" in the original. I thought it was cute so I put it in.

Hey look! It's a plot! Gasp! Anywho, hope you liked :3


	7. On Time

Netto got up from the couch jerking Enzan out of his nap. He quickly walked over to the front door and opened it. "Mejin-san!" he exclaimed, much like his navi.

Mejin gave a small sigh, "The formality really isn't needed."

"What do you want?" Netto asked.

"We just came here for a chat," Mejin said easily.

"Right…" Netto said skeptically.

Mejin sighed, "I tell you when we're inside."

Netto shrugged and let them in. Enzan raised an eyebrow and Netto shrugged. "I didn't realize Enzan was here," Mejin said.

"Movie night," Netto replied.

"Well that's good, keeps me from having to go to three places."

"Three?" Netto and Enzan asked together.

"Yes, I've already contacted Laika," Mejin said. Netto opened his mouth but Mejin held up his hands. "Let me explain before you say anything. First off," Mejin motioned to the silent man behind him, "This is Commander Ishiyama, the founder and leader of the Net Vigilantes."

Netto sat down on his couch next to Enzan and Mejin sat in the recliner across from them, Commander Ishiyama continued to stand, "What does this have to do with us?" Netto asked.

"Well, you see," Mejin said softly, trying to choose his words carefully.

"Remember Fujiko Yamato?" Ishiyama asked suddenly.

Netto raised an eyebrow, "The crazy Net Mafia lady we brought down in college? Yeah, I remember her, didn't she die when her base blew up?"

Mejin shook his head.

Enzan blinked, "What, she's alive?"

Mejin nodded.

"And what do you want us to do about it?" Netto asked with his arms crossed.

Mejin stroked his graying hair, "Well, we were kind of hoping you could help the Net Vigilantes on the mission against her."

Netto shook his head, "Sorry Mejin-ojiisan, I have a job."

Mejin took no notice to Netto's quip. "That didn't stop Enzan did it?"

Netto looked annoyed. "He stopped eventually," Netto muttered.

Enzan nodded, "He's right, it's too much."

"We're not asking you to be full time," Mejin said, "Just, reference help. Laika's already agreed to do it. Come on, you boys know most about her."

/Well/ Rockman asked.

/Sounds like fun…/ Netto admitted.

Enzan could really tell Netto wanted to accept but in a rare sign of maturity he was having issues with the fact he had a full time job. Enzan sighed, "Netto if you'll do it, I'll do it," he said.

Mejin raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

Netto looked at Enzan then Mejin, then he gave a big grin and nodded, "Sounds like fun!" he said cheerfully.

Mejin smiled, "Well then, thank you, and don't worry, we most likely won't need your help for awhile yet."

Netto grinned, "That's a relief."

Mejin walked to the door and Ishiyama followed. Mejin gave one last thought, "Oh, Netto, no need for the 'ojiisan' either."

Netto smirked as they left his house. "This is getting interesting," he admitted.

Enzan sighed and sat back down on the couch. "Do you really want to do this?" Netto asked him.

"As long as we keep our promises to make sure one another is finishing their projects on time and making sure the other isn't working to hard, I don't see why we shouldn't have the free time," Enzan replied.

Netto nodded, "Right."

Enzan yawned slightly and stood up again. "Well, we both have work tomorrow and I'm sure you're getting a new project. So, I'll be heading home. Bye Netto."

"Bye Enzan," Netto said and watched as Enzan left his house.

Netto closed his door and started the security system back up. He turned around and stretched then walked into his bedroom and collapsed on the bed. "Well, back to work tomorrow," he sighed.

Rockman laughed, "Oh well."

Netto nodded and was asleep fairly quickly.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Netto-kun," Rockman said loudly the next morning.

Netto turned over in his bed and pulled the pillow over his ears. "Go away," he muttered.

"Netto-kun," Rockman said again with a little more annoyance in his voice.

Netto pulled the pillow tighter around his head and didn't reply.

Rockman sighed; "Ne…" then the phone rang.

There was a sound even Netto couldn't ignore. He groaned and sleepily reached for the annoying device. "Hullo?" he asked sleepily.

"I trust you aren't giving your navi a hard time," Enzan's cool voice came from the other end waking Netto up as effectively as a cold shower.

"Enzan!" Netto yelled and sat up in bed. "Uh… no," he said slowly.

Rockman, who was listening to the line through his PET yelled, "Liar!"

"Rockman, shut up," Netto grumped at his navi.

Enzan sighed, "Well, get up. You know you should be up at this time anyway."

Netto was already walking around his room looking for his clothes, "Yeah, yeah," he muttered.

"Well, since your up, I'll leave you to get ready, bye," Enzan said and hung up.

"Bye…" Netto said to the dial tone. He sighed and hung up the phone and threw it on the bed, "He's just as crabby as me in the mornings," he said to his navi.

Rockman giggled, "He's just trying to make sure you get out of the house on time."

Netto made a face and pulled his lab coat off the hanger in his closet, "Yeah, yeah," he said again and he walked over to the computer and grabbed his PET. "Come on; time to go see what wonderful new project I get to do today."

Rockman smiled but didn't reply to the obviously sarcastic comment.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto walked into the Sci Labs building yawning and looking a little crabby. "Hey Netto, on time for once?" a voice said behind him.

Netto spun around to see Meiru run up to catch up with him. He gave his friend a genuine smile, "Yeah, Enzan called me this morning and get me out of bed."

Meiru giggled, "Well, that's good. There is someone who can make you be on time aside from Rockman that is."

Netto shrugged and they walked down the hall together. "What are you doing here?" Netto asked.

Meiru held up a manila envelope, "I'm here to get a program for my business."

"How is your business doing anyway?" Netto asked.

Meiru smiled happily, "It's doing great. I knew getting into the 'Dress up chip' business was a good idea."

"Well, if anyone could pull it off," Netto smiled. "How's Yaito?"

"She's doing great. I still can't believe she's actually working with me. I never expected her to be that kind of person."

"Well, she always did like designing clothes," Netto shrugged. "Maybe she doesn't see it as work."

"Probably," Meiru admitted. "Well, I need to take this back to my office and set it up," she said looking at the envelope, "See ya Netto!"

"Bye!" Netto waved and walked down the hallway to his father's lab.

"Who knew Meiru would end up such a good business woman," Rockman mused.

Netto smiled, "I believe it. She always had that kind of…" he paused, "spark."

Rockman laughed but didn't say anything else. Netto walked into his father's lab and waved him. "Morning papa," he said cheerfully.

"Netto, you're on time," Yuuichiro replied with the faintest hint of surprise in his voice.

Netto sighed, "Yeah, I'm on time."

Yuuichiro smiled, "Have a new project yet?"

Netto shook his head, "I thought I'd say hi before I went to go get it," he said.

Yuuichiro nodded, "Well I'm doing fine. And your mother wants to know if you'd like to stop by for dinner this week."

Netto shrugged, "Sure. What day?"

"Thursday, she said. I thought I was going to have to hunt you down but it seems you decided to fine me first," Yuuichiro smiled at his son.

Netto ran his fingers through his hair, "Yeah well… I've been busy."

"So I've heard," Yuuichiro said dryly.

Netto laughed sheepishly, "Well I better go get my project, see you on Thursday papa."

Yuuichiro nodded, "See you," he said and waved.

Netto left the office and sighed, "Papa always finds out."

"He is your father; it's kind of his job."

"He's your dad too," Netto shot back.

"But I don't do things that make him have to check up on me," Rockman replied.

Netto crossed his arms and continued to walk down the hall to where his next project was waiting. He went inside and waved at the woman sitting behind the desk, "Morning Nanako-san," he said cheerfully.

The woman pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and handed Netto a disk. "Morning, Hikari-kun, glad to see you could make it on time."

Netto shot her a small glare but didn't retaliate.

"Here is your new project, I pray you won't procrastinate this time?" she asked.

Netto sighed and slipped the disk into his pocket. "No, Nanako-san."

"Good, this one is due in two weeks, more then enough time if you pace yourself."

Netto turned around and started to walk out of her office.

"Did you hear what I said Hikari-kun?" she asked.

Netto waved carelessly with his back still turned, "I heard, see you in two weeks, Nanako-san." He walked out of the office and the doors slid shut behind his retreating form.

"That man…" Nanako hissed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

New chappie, Enjoy :3


	8. New Project

Netto walked down the halls of the big building to his office where he flopped into his chair and set the manila envelope on his desk and looked at it. "Well, what do you think it is?" Netto asked Rockman.

Rockman shrugged, "I don't know, Netto-kun. Why don't you open it and find out?"

Netto sighed and slit the envelope open with his fingers and pulled out the papers inside. "Ah, this isn't too bad," he said while scanning the pages, flipping them over at random.

"What is it?" Rockman asked.

"A security program for…" Netto scanned some more and smirked.

"What?" Rockman asked, his mind burning with curiosity.

"IPC," Netto said. "His dad was the one who requested the security system though."

"Ijuuin Shuuseki?" Rockman asked. "He asked for a security system from Sci Labs?"

"Apparently so," Netto said and set down the papers. "Well it'll be time consuming but not too hard, ready to start, Rockman?"

"Sure," Rockman said. "Should we start with the frame or programming first?"

Netto frowned, "I'd say the frame first."

Rockman brought up a program on the computer, "All right, here's the starting program."

"Thank you," Netto said and started to type away on the computer.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hours later he and Rockman had managed to complete the skeleton of the frame. Netto stretched and glanced at the clock, "It's five," he murmured.

"Not bad for a day's work," Rockman said while stretching. "All we need to do is finish off the frame tomorrow and we can start of the programming."

Netto grinned, "Awesome, maybe we can get this done in a week. Then just iron it out the week after."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Rockman said. "Why don't we go see how Enzan-san is doing?"

"I bet he's still at work," Netto smirked.

"Then let's go get him," Rockman said.

Netto and Rockman left the building and drove the ten or so miles to the IPC main building. Netto rode the familiar elevator up to the top floor and was greeted by Enzan's mousy secretary. "Hey Mary-san," Netto said with a wave. "Enzan still here?"

Mary had by then grown used to Netto popping up and dragging Enzan out of the office. "Enzan-sama is in his office. Shall I tell him you're here, Netto-san?"

"Nah," Netto said carelessly. "I'll surprise him."

Mary gave him a faint grin, "All right," she said. "The door is open."

"Thank you!" Netto said as he started to walk down the hall.

They came up to Enzan's door and Netto just walked in. He had never knocked on Enzan's door and now was really no time to start. "Well, time to go," Netto said cheerfully.

Enzan sighed when he heard Netto's voice behind him. "Netto, I have to finish this."

"No you don't," Netto said. "I get up at an ungodly time; you get off work at a normal time, that was the deal."

"6 am hardly constitutes as 'ungodly' Netto," Enzan said dryly.

Netto walked in front of Enzan's desk and plopped down in one of the conference chairs in front of it. "It does to me. Now get up and let's go," he said.

"Netto, I need to finish this," Enzan growled.

"So you loose the bet then," Netto said cheerfully.

"But!" Enzan spluttered.

"Come on," Netto said while leaning forward to poke Enzan in the shoulder. "It will still be there tomorrow."

"Enzan-sama," Blues said quietly.

Enzan sighed and pulled his PET out of the computer. "All right, fine," Enzan muttered.

"All right!" Netto cheered. "So where do you want to go first?"

"Go? Netto it's a Wednesday evening, there is no place to go," Enzan said.

"Well, we can go to the park or we can go to the beach. There are plenty of places to go," Netto said while standing up. "You just never go outside enough to know that."

Enzan growled at Netto who shot him an amused glare in return. "Oh my," Rockman said while trying not to laugh.

Blues linked himself into Rockman's PET. "Enzan-sama seems a little annoyed," Blues noted.

"Hm…" Rockman said in an amused voice.

Netto reached over and pulled Enzan out of his seat. "Come on, please?" Netto asked in an earnest voice.

Enzan sighed and willingly let Netto pull him out of his office.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

They drove into a nearly empty parking lot and hiked a small trail that Netto knew about. "See, isn't this fun?" he asked.

Enzan didn't say anything out loud, but in his mind he silently agreed with Netto. It was fun; it was also quiet and relaxing.

They made it to a small over hang cliff next to a waterfall and sat down. "Where do you find these places?" Enzan asked.

"I wander around," Netto said. "Sometimes it's just… easier to get away from all the technology…"

Rockman nodded, "Yeah."

Enzan and Blues both looked at them. "I take it your need to get away from technology has more meaning then to just relax."

Netto blinked at Enzan, then turned to look at the waterfall with a small smile on his face. "Damn you know me too well, Enzan."

"I'm not stupid Netto, I know how to read between the lines," Enzan said.

Netto sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Well, you know with our link and stuff, Rockman and I can pretty much 'hear' and sense each other at all times. Sometimes other things… interfere with that."

"Interfere?" Enzan asked.

Netto made a face, "Okay, that's the best way I can describe it. Sometimes, if we're both really tired it's hard to just concentrate on one another. So sometimes outside 'noises' make it in. It's really just electromagnetic interference but," Netto sighed. "It can give you one hell of a head ache."

Rockman nodded, "Definitely."

"So, on such days," Blues said, "You and Netto-san just wander around out here?"

Netto shrugged, "Sometimes. Sometimes we sleep or go to the beach or something else. There are ways to deal with it," Netto said in response to the semi worried glance Enzan was now giving him.

"Why haven't you told me about this before?" Enzan asked.

"Because I knew you would freak out and start to worry, just like you're doing now," Netto pointed out.

Blues and Rockman both hid small smiled as Enzan obviously tried and failed to mask his current expression. "It's something to worry about," he said.

Netto cheerfully slapped Enzan on the back making the older man pitch forward just a little bit. "No it's not."

Enzan sighed and leaned back into the taller grass. The sun was beginning to set and it was getting dark. "We need to leave soon."

Netto sighed and nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I know."

Enzan stood up and offered a hand to Netto. Netto took it and let Enzan help him get to his feet.

Together the two men walked to their cars. Netto glanced at his watch on the way there several times. "It's only 8, wanna go to my house and have some ramen or something?"

"Ramen?" Enzan raised and eyebrow. "I wasn't aware we were still in college," he teased.

Netto muttered something Enzan couldn't hear that prompted Rockman to say, "Netto-kun, be nice!" in a rather shrill voice.

Enzan gave him a weak smile and put his hand on his shoulder. "How about we go to your house, and I cook," Enzan said.

Netto gave Enzan a big grin and nodded. "Sure, as long as you don't burn it, like the cake."

"That was an accident!" Enzan protested.

"A hard, brick like, carbon based incident," Netto teased.

"I can cook now," Enzan protested.

"I'm sure you can," Netto said soothingly. "Now come on, I'm starved."

Blues spent the trip on the way back to Netto's house in Rockman's PET. "Can he cook?" Rockman asked.

Blues shook his head, "Not really."

Rockman raised and eyebrow. "This will certainly be interesting."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kekekeke 3


	9. How NOT to make Spaghetti

The drive back to Netto's house was a silent one as they were in separate cars. They pulled up to Netto's house just as the last rays of the sun dipped below the horizon and out of sight. They got out and Netto opened the front door with the key in his mail box.

"Why do you put the key there even when I tell you not to," Enzan sighed.

"Enzan, who in the hell is going to break into my house. They couldn't steal anything because of the encodes I have on everything and the security system would go wild if it didn't recognize that I was in the house."

"Because you have hundreds of enemies?" Enzan asked him sarcastically.

Netto sighed, "You worry too much," he muttered as he walked into the house.

"I do not," Enzan retorted as he followed Netto inside.

Netto grinned, "Yeah you do, so what's for dinner?" he asked before Enzan could reply.

"I was thinking maybe spaghetti," Enzan said.

Netto shrugged, "Fine, the pasta's in the top shelf, knock yourself out."

Enzan nodded and walked into the kitchen and Netto went into the living room where he flopped on the couch and turned on the TV. "Netto-san…" Blues said softly.

"Yeah?" Netto asked.

"Are you sure you don't want to help Enzan-sama cook dinner?" Blues asked.

"Are you nuts?" Netto asked him. "I can't cook."

"Netto-kun openly admits he can't cook after he set the chicken on fire in the oven," Rockman said.

"That was an accident…" Netto growled.

"And it was hilarious," Rockman added.

Blues couldn't resist smiling at that, "All right," he said.

After about ten minutes Netto sniffed the air, "Something smells weird," he muttered.

"Netto-kun, what is it?" Rockman asked.

"I don't know… it kinda smells like something is burning," he said in an offhand voice.

At that moment the fire alarm in the kitchen went off making Netto's cat and dog run for their lives by hiding in Netto's room.

"Ummm, Netto, how do I turn this off?" Enzan asked.

"Press the red button," Netto replied. "Are you doing okay in there?"

"Fine!" Enzan said while pressing the button and making the shrill beeping noise blissfully stop.

"What is he doing?" Netto muttered to himself.

"He's burning pasta," Blues said to Rockman in a low voice.

"How?" Rockman asked.

"I have no idea," Blues answered.

After another ten minutes the alarm went off again but it was stopped quicker that time. "Enzan, do you need help?" Netto asked.

"No, I'm fine," Enzan replied. "Really."

Netto returned to the program he had on TV while eyeing the kitchen apprehensively.

Finally after another fifteen minutes Enzan came out carrying two plates of yellow and blackened spaghetti with pasta sauce poured haphazardly on it. Netto eyed it then looked up at Enzan who looked somewhat disappointed. "Looks great," he lied.

Enzan sighed and took his own plate. Netto took up a forkful and put it in his mouth resting the urge to spit it back out. It was somehow raw and burnt at the same time and the sauce did nothing to cover it up. "It's… good," Netto said slowly after forcing himself to swallow it.

Enzan hadn't even had the guts to eat his own plateful yet, "Really?" he asked.

Netto nodded stiffly, "Yeah…" he said slowly, "Sure."

Enzan took a bite of his and swallowed it with difficulty. "You really think this is good?" he asked.

"Better then my cooking," Netto said cheerfully while taking another bite.

Together the two men sat there watching old sitcoms and choking down half cooked, burnt spaghetti in an effort to please one another.

After dinner was over Netto took the dishes into the kitchen and set them into the dishwasher. He noted the gooey black mess in the bottom of one pan but didn't day anything about it. Instead he went back over to the couch and sat down on it. "Heh, that was an interesting dinner, Enzan," Netto said. "Never had anything quite like it before."

Enzan gave him a half grin, "It was horrible," he said softly.

Netto sighed, "Ummm… yeah, it was."

Both men burst out laughing and didn't stop for a long while. "Oh god Enzan, how did you manage that," Netto asked after awhile.

"Manage what?" Enzan asked.

"To make it raw and burned at the same time?" Netto asked.

Enzan shook his head, "I… don't know."

"Amazing," Netto said.

Enzan sighed and leaned into the couch, "We have work tomorrow," he reminded Netto.

Netto shrugged, "It's only nine," he said. "We still have a little while."

Enzan smiled softly and changed the channel to a documentary. Netto didn't protest and ten minutes later he was fast asleep on the couch.

"Wow… that didn't take long," Blues mused.

"Documentaries are like sedatives to Netto-kun," Rockman said with a grin. "I found that out in 7th grade."

Blues laughed and he and Rockman went into the bedroom portion of Rockman's house to look up a book file they had talked about earlier.

Netto slid over on the couch until his head rested on Enzan's shoulder. Enzan turned slowly to look at the sleeping brunette and really couldn't think of anything to say. "Netto?" he asked.

Netto groaned and moved a little in his sleep forcing Enzan to catch his upper body so he didn't fall off the couch. Finally Enzan just put Netto's head in his lap and continued to watch the show.

The smaller man curled up around a pillow he was holding and looked a little flustered as if whatever he was dreaming about was bothering him. Enzan looked around but there was no Rockman to be seen.

"Netto?" Enzan asked while shaking his friend, "Are you okay?"

"Hm…?" Netto asked sleepily. "I'm… fine…" he yawned and fell back asleep.

Enzan sighed and looked at his watch, it was only 9:20 at that time. Enzan really didn't want to leave and he was more comfortable then he cared to admit with Netto's head in his lap.

Abandoning the TV he looked down at Netto trying to see if he was still squirming or upset about whatever he was thinking of earlier. He was in fact completely peaceful in his sleep and didn't seem to have any imaginary demons chasing after him.

Enzan noted that when Netto turned his head a bit a small piece of hair fell in front of his face. Enzan pulled that strand out of his eyes and placed it back where it was before. Netto sighed happily and merely snuggled in closer to Enzan in his sleep.

Blues and Rockman both watched with amusement from a small monitor at the back of the living room.

"Netto?" Enzan asked.

"Yeah?" Netto replied.

"You're awake!" Enzan exclaimed.

"Kinda…" Netto said letting his eyes drift halfway open.

"I should probably get going…" Enzan said finally.

Netto sighed; he really was very comfortable with where he was sitting. "So soon?" he asked.

"We have work," Enzan said.

Netto nodded, "All right," he said and sat up. "I'll see you tomorrow then?" he asked.

Enzan nodded, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Netto waved good bye as Enzan left the room and Blues said good bye to Rockman before linking into his PET.

"Nice night," Rockman said.

Netto stood up and stretched his hands over his head, "Yeah!" he agreed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Sir, it's a call for you," a boy of about 13 came over and held a phone out to Laika.

Laika picked up the phone, "Yes?" he asked.

"Colonel Laika, may I request your presence in Akihara in a day?" a voice asked him.

"Mejin-san?" Laika asked curiously. "What, it's already started?"

"Not quite, but we would like some back up," Mejin said. "Besides, I think some friends of yours might want to say hello before you three get neck deep into trouble like I know you will."

Laika almost gave a grin at these words, "Fine, you'll see me in your office by tomorrow evening, Mejin-san."

"No need for the san," Mejin said and hung up.

"Laika-san?" Searchman asked from his PET.

"Time to go," Laika said simply and Searchman nodded his consent.


	10. Beginnings

The next day after Netto was finishing off his second day of work and getting ready to go annoy Enzan out of the office his PET rang loudly with the ring tone in it that used to specify a mission in his college days. He and Rockman exchanged glances before he pulled out his PET and opened up the larger touch screen. "Hello?" he asked in a confused voice.

"Hello, Netto," Mejin said happily.

"Mejin-san!" Netto exclaimed. "Oh wait, the Net Vigilante thing already?" he groaned. "I have a project…"

Mejin shook his head, "Nah, I'm just calling to give you a heads up and to head down to the international airport. Check out flight #345," he said with a grin. "Oh, and no need for the san."

Netto shook his head, "All right, but what does this have to do with…" he started.

"You'll see," Mejin said and hung up.

Netto sighed, "Cryptic as ever," he muttered.

"Well, should we go?" Rockman asked.

Netto nodded and stood up from his desk, "Think Enzan got the same directions?"

"Probably yes," Rockman replied. "Or so this e-mail from Blues tells me."

"Ah," Netto said as he took up his coat and PET. "Well then, let's head down to the airport," he mused.

"All right," Rockman agreed, "But no stopping at a fast food place," he muttered.

"Darn you," Netto joked as he walked out of his office room.

Netto walked into the busy airport and pushed his way over to a flight display screen. "Okay…. #345… where is it?" Netto murmured.

"Up there, coming in ten minutes from a fuel up in Choina," Rockman said.

Netto sighed, "Okay, we know it's not Jasmine as she's so busy with her shop. What was the original departure?" he asked.

"I… don't see it," Rockman said. "Ah wait," a smile came across Rockman's lips, "It's from Sharro," he said excitedly.

"Yes!" Netto cheered.

"You're here already," a voice said behind him.

Netto spun around to see Enzan still in his business suit looking up at the display screen. "It's Laika," he said.

Enzan blinked, "Really? He hasn't been down here for about a year."

Netto shrugged, "Must be that mission thing. Maybe Mejin is biding his time before sending us back out again," he suggested.

"And giving us time to make arrangements with work," Enzan noted.

Netto glanced down at the lab coat he, in his haste, had forgotten to take off. "Heh, well as long as I finish this program I'll be fine for a few weeks at least. I've done three high profile programs in the last two months, I'm pretty sure I can get a break."

Enzan nodded, "Same here, and apparently Laika can to."

Netto and Enzan walked over to the unloading gate that flight 345 would pull up to. "Well, he is a solider, if he said it was a matter of international security I'm sure he could deploy himself," Netto noted.

Enzan gave a small laugh, "Ah, so that's how he does it now."

"As opposed to what?" Netto asked.

"To asking his superiors to come," Enzan stated.

"Enzan, he is the superior now," Netto pointed out.

"Are you two talking about me?" a cool voice said behind them.

Netto and Enzan spun around to see Laika I his worn green army uniform looking very amused for Laika. They had spent so much time speculating that they didn't see the passengers departing from the plane.

"Laika!" Netto said happily to his old friend. "How are you?"

Laika gave Netto one of his ever increasingly rare grins. "I'm fine. It's a lot warmer here then in Sharro right now."

Enzan gave Laika one of his own elusive smiles, "Glad to know you finally decided to come see us for once."

"Well, I've been put in charge of the new recruits for a little while," Laika explained.

"I thought you hated teaching the recruits," Netto said slowly.

Laika sighed, "The General thought it might be good experience for me."

Netto smirked, "Oh, I see now."

In the net Blues and Rockman were currently greeting their friend much in the same way Netto and Enzan greeted Laika.

"Hey Searchman, how are you?" Rockman asked him once he had linked himself into Rockman's PET.

Searchman nodded, "I'm fine. Laika-san's a bit on edge though."

"Why?" Blues asked.

"He's in charge of the recruit training," Searchman explained. "The General thinks it will be good training for him because of the way Laika is getting promoted so quickly through the ranks."

"Well he is a good solider," Blues said.

Searchman nodded, "But he couldn't avoid the recruits forever," he said with a grin.

Netto slapped Laika on the shoulder in a genial way, "Well, you were a new kid too, once. You just need to remember that."

"Thanks," Laika said dryly.

Enzan hid a small smile to the reaction. "So, if we don't have anything to do, where should we go?"

"Not my house and Enzan is not cooking!" Netto exclaimed loudly.

Laika threw him a questioning look and Enzan decided to intervene. "How about we just go to the café across the street from where I work," he suggested quickly before Netto could say anything else.

"Is it good?" Laika asked.

Enzan nodded, "Yeah, I go there a lot when I can't get home in time for dinner."

"Or cook dinner, because he'll poison himself," Netto said with a cocky grin.

Enzan threw him a dirty look and Netto smiled, "Oh come on, you really didn't think I would let you live that down did you?" he asked.

"Live what down?" Laika inquired Netto.

They started to walk out of the airport while Netto started to tell the story of the burnt and raw spaghetti that Enzan had made the night before while Enzan's face turned a bright red.

"Amazing," Laika murmured.

"What is amazing?" Enzan snapped.

"Nothing," Laika said quickly. "So uhhh, where is this place again?" he asked trying to change the subject.

Netto laughed while Enzan kinda just sulked. Netto patted his shoulder comfortingly, "Awww, don't worry about it, we all can't be good at everything."

"And it's not like Netto-kun's cooking is any better!" Rockman yelled from his PET.

"You, shut up," Netto told his navi.

Rockman looked quite pleased with himself inside his PET. "It's true," he muttered. "Netto-kun got the fire department at our house one day while trying to make brownies."

"I said you could be quiet," Netto said tightly while Enzan and Laika suppressed a small bit of laughter.

"That is amazing," Enzan said.

"Definitely," Laika agreed.

"I've never pretended I can cook you know," Netto said while they walked out into the parking lot.

"Then why were you making brownies?" Enzan asked.

Netto blushed, "They were for mom for mother's day… or they were…" he muttered.

Enzan and Laika looked amused but didn't say any petty comments on that remark. Netto looked at his car and sighed slightly. "So, who is Laika going with?" he asked.

"Well, my car is actually still at work. I work within walking distance," Enzan said.

Netto glanced over and saw Enzan's work tower in the distance. "I knew that," he said while pulling out his keys.

Enzan and Laika exchanged glances. "Just like in college," Enzan murmured to him.

Laika nodded, "Defiently."

"I heard that," Netto snapped.

"We know," they answered as they got into the back seats.

Netto grumbled as he got into the driver's seat and made sure to make his turns a little sharper then usual, because he could.


	11. New Friends Old Enemy

The dinner they shared was pleasant. They reminisced over old times and chatted while their navis joined in on the conversations with ease. After it was all over Netto dropped Laika off at his hotel and he returned home, falling into bed. "So, what's gonna happen?" Netto mused as he pulled the covers over himself.

"Who knows?" Rockman replied and mirrored Netto.

"Ah whatever, night Rockman."

"Night Netto-kun."

The next morning Netto woke up ready to finish off the security program and send in the first level of data to be inspected by the buyers. This would give him a three to four day window to do as he pleased and he knew it wouldn't be spent in leisurely activity. Not since Laika was there.

"Netto-kun, got the program?" Rockman asked as they headed to Nanako's office to drop it off.

Netto held up a disk between two fingers, "Stage one complete, we need approval before we can finish it off though."

Rockman nodded, "I know that."

Netto sighed, "That's one reason I don't like making security programs."

"Too bad," Rockman said matter of factly.

The two argued good naturedly as they walked into Nanako's office unannounced. "Here you go," Netto said handing her the disk.

She blinked at it and sighed, "Well, I see the first part is finished. You're free to go. I'll call you when it's approved for the final part."

Netto nodded and left the office. "I hate this part," he said while making a face.

"What the part where the people pick out every thing wrong with your program?" Rockman asked.

"Yes," Netto said. "I hate re-doing things."

"Yeah, but if there's a mistake then it needs to be fixed," Rockman pointed out.

"Says you," Netto teased.

Rockman rolled his eyes and didn't dignify the quip with a response. After walking in silence for a few moments, Netto's PET began to ring. "Yes?" Netto asked as the view screen came up.

"Netto-kun," Mejin greeted him.

"Hey!" Netto waved. "So, what now?"

"I'd like you to come to the my office, we're going to brief you on what's going on and introduce you to the Vigilante team in charge of it," Mejin explained.

Netto groaned, "I just got off work," he said.

"You agreed to this, be thankful your work is done," Mejin pointed out.

Rockman laughed and earned himself a glare from Netto. "I'll be there after I get ready."

"All right, we'll see you soon," Mejin said and hung up before Netto could chide him by saying 'Mejin-san.'

Netto sighed, "Ah well," he shrugged. "Looks like this is about to begin all over again."

Rockman laughed hollowly, "You sound so excited."

Netto rolled his eyes, "I hated Fujiko Yamato, the woman was a psychopath."

Rockman nodded his head, "True, but Mejin-san did say it was only reference work."

"And you really believed him?" Netto asked his navi disbelievingly.

"No," Rockman admitted slowly. "But you might."

"Aw, you be quiet," Netto said and got into his car.

Rockman laughed as he plugged himself into the car's navigation system.

An hour later Netto pulled into the parking lot of Sci Labs and headed back into the building. He rode the elevator all the way up to the fifth floor and went into Mejin's office. "Hey," he called out dully.

"You're late," Enzan remarked.

"Excuse me for eating after work," Netto said hotly.

Just then a bespecled girl with brown hair and eyes walked over to him and stuck out her hand, "Name's Andréa, nice to meet you!" she said cheerfully.

Netto looked her up and down then took her hand. "Hi, my name is Netto," he said unsure of what to say to the very outspoken girl.

She nodded, "Yeah, I know that, oh!" she gasped, as if remembering something. She walked over to the back of the room and pulled a boy slightly taller then her to his feet, "This is my younger brother, Edward."

The boy nodded a serious look in his eyes. "He hates to talk," Andréa said with a wicked grin.

"Shut up," he muttered in a low tone to his older sister.

She grinned broadly and sat down. "Younger brother?" Netto asked.

Andréa nodded, "Yeup!" she said cheerfully to the point of annoyance. "Ed here is 14, I'm 17."

Netto raised an eyebrow, "You're 17?" he asked slowly.

Andréa's eyebrow twitched, "Yes, I'm 17, I'm a senior in high school too, got a problem with that?" she snapped.

Netto held up his hands and merely sat down.

Mejin coughed, "Now that we're all acquainted, let's get some of the basic facts down."

Andréa twirled a piece of her short hair around her finger, "How about… Fujiko is insane? Ow!" she yelped from what Netto suspected was an elbow from her younger brother.

/She's right…/ Netto mused.

Rockman giggled in his PET.

Mejin coughed again and they all watched him. "All right, listen up people. Fujiko Yamato is out of prison and we have reason to believe that she's created a new ring of followers. Her last plan was to destroy the net with an energy overload equivalent to 20 nuclear bombs, now considering this almost worked; we believe this is her plan now."

"Joy…" Enzan said dryly, Laika's lips twisted and Netto sighed.

"Andréa and Edward are both special force operatives and Andréa is a programmer who had been over Fujiko's plans several times. They're the head team of the operation."

Andréa grinned and gave the boys a thumbs up while Edward just scowled. Netto nodded back while Enzan and Laika just gazed at her in an almost unbelieving stare.

"So, I'll leave these two to brief you guys on what they know then if you wish you can go on field duty."

"I thought you said this was purely research," Enzan pointed out.

Mejin shrugged, "Your choice, you choose."

Netto grinned/I called that one./

Rockman laughed mentally/That you did, Netto-kun./

Andréa walked to the front of the room as Mejin closed the door. "Okay, well really Mejin already said everything. She escaped from jail, she has lunatic followers and she's already attack four net bases, draining them of their energy. We managed to prevent one attack and stop another but our stats still suck."

"Blunt way off putting it," Laika murmured.

"Thank you!" Andréa grinned and sat down at Mejin's desk. Her expression became serious, "Listen to me, you already know this woman is dangerous and you three originally helped to bring her down. If you choose to go on field duty regardless of your current occupations, I can assure you you'll be targeted."

Netto shrugged, "Not like I have anything better to do."

Enzan coughed, "How about the security program?" he asked.

"Three day break while your dad tears it apart," Netto flashed Enzan a cool grin.

Enzan sighed, "All right," he muttered. "I'll help some too."

"I planned to be on field duty from the beginning," Laika said coolly.

Andréa shrugged, "Fine with me. Just know this," she stood up. "You may have led the first attack but this is our battle now. I say what goes, and Edward is the strategy person, okay?"

/She's kinda pushy, isn't she/ Rockman asked.

Netto laughed/Kinda/

The other two shrugged, although they looked a bit scandalized by being bossed around by a 17 year old.

Andréa nodded. "Okay, now that that's out of the way, I don't think you've met our navis," she said with a grin. She pulled out a cerulean blue PET and held it up, "This is Staccato," she said with a grin and showed them a pretty navi who looked to be about her operator's age with a blue hued costume. It had a short skirt with black leggings, ankle high boots and gloves, a blue shirt that looked like a t-shirt and between the t-shirt and the gloves was black. Her helmet was of simple design with ridges to make patterns, long blue hair trailed out from underneath and was pulled into two pony tails that fell to her waist.

She waved energetically at them. "Hey!" she said cheerfully.

Edward sighed and pulled out his PET, it was a pastel green. The navi inside was a tall male wearing a simple green jumpsuit with dark green elbow high gloves and dark green knee high boots. Lines of black outlined his costume and a dark bank of black encircled his waist. His helmet was green and black and spiky green hair stuck out from underneath it. He bowed politely, "Hello," he said quietly.

Netto nodded, "Nice to meet you two as well."

Andréa stood up, "Well, shall we get going?" she asked.

"What, now?" Enzan asked.

She winked, "No time like the present, come on, let's go!"

Her bother sighed and followed his energetic older sister out the door who was followed by a very confused Enzan, Laika and Netto.


	12. Chapter 12

After being thoroughly annoyed and ever so slightly angry, Netto, Laika and Enzan made it out of the field work they were given.

"Okay, that was kinda hard," Netto sighed once they got back to his apartment.

Rockman laughed, "We're not used to it," he pointed out. "That isn't out lifestyle any more."

Enzan nodded, "He's right you know. We don't live like that, we all have our own lives now."

"Thank god," Netto yawned. "I was beginning to remember why I decided to quit."

Enzan and Laika nodded. "It's not like we would be Net Saviors forever," Laika pointed out. "We all had different ambitions."

Netto laughed, "It took me until my 4th year of grad school to figure that out though."

Enzan shrugged, "There's nothing wrong with that," he said. "You can't be a programmer and a full time net savior. Not even Mejin-san has figured out to do that."

Netto laughed loudly, "Once Mejin-san does though we're all in trouble."

Rockman giggled, "Oh Netto-kun, you don't give him enough credit."

"Sure I do!" Netto said. "But he's not getting any younger, and he's still running around on the field." He thought for a second, "And crashing cars," he added.

This comment drew a laugh from Enzan and Laika. "Netto-san has a point," Blues said. "We've all changed."

Netto nodded, "But that's not necessarily a bad thing," he pointed out.

Laika nodded, "Dare I say it, even you have matured over the years, Netto," he chided.

Netto threw a pillow at Laika and Rockman snorted, "Then again maybe not," he teased.

Netto pretended to look sulky as he threw himself into his couch, "Yeah, I love you too," he muttered.

Laika smiled, "It had to happen at some point," he said. "Netto seriously though, I never thought you were going to leave the Net Saviors."

"Mom made me," Netto admitted.

"She did?" Laika asked.

Enzan nodded, "I knew that," he replied. "You stopped about a year before he did and you were in Sharro the whole time."

Netto nodded, "Yeah, I was constantly tired and after awhile I just didn't have the energy to do anything. Even worse, I began to loose control of my half of the link."

"What?" Laika asked.

"I never told you this?" Netto asked innocently.

"No!" Laika snapped.

Netto waved a hand carelessly, "Well, I didn't want to worry you. Anyways, when I began to loose control of my part of the link was when mom told me enough and pretty much asked me to quit the Net Saviors. Balancing college, that and getting into the programmer school I was aiming for was too much. After talking about it with Rockman we agreed to quit after the summer was over."

"I never knew that," Laika muttered. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I told you," Netto sighed, "I didn't want to worry you. I was bad enough I had Mr. Mom over there breathing down my neck the whole time."

"Hey!" Enzan snapped.

Netto gave Enzan a small smile, "You know it's true. You kept on hinting that I should quit years before mom mentioned it."

Enzan crossed his arms, "I know, and I was right, wasn't I?"

Netto scowled, "And the fact this happened four years ago doesn't mean anything?"

"No," Enzan said.

"Nope," Rockman added.

Laika shook his head and Netto suspected Searchman and Blues were thinking the same thing. "I walked into that one," he sighed.

"That you did," Laika replied. He looked around, "Netto?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any tea?"

Netto laughed out loud, "Of course I do. Enzan drinks coffee and you drink tea, that much I remember."

"How old is it?" Laika asked tentatively.

"About 5 months, mom drinks a lot of tea too," Netto laughed. "That is if you don't mind green tea."

Laika shook his head, "No, I don't."

"Stressed?" he asked.

Laika sighed, "A little bit," he admitted. "Where is it?"

Netto opened his mouth then closed it. "Third cupboard on the right," Rockman instructed.

"I knew that," Netto muttered.

Rockman laughed, "I know, I know," he said while Laika stood up to make his tea.

"Well, today was certainly interesting," Enzan sighed.

Netto laughed, "Andréa?" he asked.

Enzan nodded, "I don't think I've ever seen anyone as hyper as her since I met you."

Rockman allowed himself a small laugh at Netto's expense. "She was good though," he pointed out.

"I never denied that," Enzan said. "All I said was that she was hyper."

Laika came back in with a cup of tea, "That she was," he sighed and took a sip from his steaming beverage.

Netto shrugged, "I didn't mind," he said.

"You wouldn't," Enzan and Laika answered him.

Netto crossed his arms and frowned, "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"Nothing," Enzan said innocently and Laika took a long draught from his cup.

Netto sighed and lay down on the couch.

"Tired?" Enzan asked.

"Three day break," Netto sing songed. "I'll bug you at work tomorrow."

"Joy," Enzan said sarcastically.

Laika hid a smile in his tea cup. "Are there any plans tomorrow?"

Netto blinked at the ceiling, "I don't know, what do you want to do? At least until we get another call."

"Could we just… do something calm?" Enzan asked.

Netto grinned, "Do you want to go to the park?" he asked.

Enzan gave Netto a small smile, "That sounds nice."

Laika looked from Netto to Enzan then back again, "All righty then, the park it is," he said.

"Right," Netto and Enzan agreed.

Laika set the empty tea cup on the coffee table. "Well, I think I'll head back to my hotel."

"Need a ride?" Enzan asked.

"Sure," Laika said and picked up his PET.

Netto grinned from his place on the couch. "See you two tomorrow."

"Bye," they said and left.

"You enjoyed today, didn't you?" Rockman asked.

Netto gave him a mysterious grin, "More then you know, nii-san."


	13. Chapter 13

"Netto-kun," Rockman called out from the computer the next morning.

"What…" Netto groaned.

"Get up," Rockman said.

"Lemme sleep in…" Netto groaned.

"Netto-kun, we've been through this before. Staying up late then sleeping in till noon will only hurt you when you have to go back to work."

"Do I look like I care," Netto muttered as he turned over in his bed.

Rockman sighed, "Netto-kun, it's like… 11, come on, this is late even by your standards."

"I can sleep for another hour easily," Netto reminded him.

"Not if I keep waking you up," Rockman said.

Netto growled and buried his head under his pillow.

/Did you honestly think that was going to work/ Rockman asked Netto.

/No, but you could have pretended it did/ Netto pointed out.

Rockman smiled even though Netto couldn't see it/Nice try. Points for effort there, however you need to get up./

Netto was still trying very hard to ignore Rockman's chidings while somehow still falling back asleep and he wasn't actually doing that badly until Rockman sighed and opened his bedroom door.

Red and Sitio came bounding into the room in a two pet stampede onto Netto's bed. Sitio jumped onto his bed and curled up on Netto's head and Red merely jumped up and plopped down on Netto.

"I hate you," Netto told Rockman darkly.

"They're hungry," Rockman said with a small laugh.

Netto groaned and pushed the cat and dog off his bed. Then he sat up with a groan and stood up, "You cheated," Netto said.

Rockman shrugged, "They're your pets."

Netto grumbled as he walked into the kitchen and fed his cat and dog while making a very strong cup of coffee.

"Enzan-sama?" a voice asked him.

Enzan lifted his hands from his keyboard and turned around in his office chair to look at his secretary with his piercing blue eyes. "Yes?" he asked.

She walked across the room and handed him a manila envelope, "These are the new patents for IPC," she said. "You need to look them over and approve them before they are put out for creation."

Enzan nodded and took the envelope. "Thank you," he said.

She gave him a small bow and walked out of the office.

Enzan pulled the sheets out of the envelope and began to scan the outlines of several new programs, inventions and other things that were either commissioned for or created by IPC.

"Enzan-sama?" Blues called from the computer.

"Yes Blues?" Enzan asked.

"It's almost 4:30," Blues said. "Maybe that should wait until tomorrow, Netto-san will be along soon, I'm sure."

Enzan sighed and looked at the clock, "I can get through one," he murmured.

Blues nodded, "Yes, Enzan-sama," he said quietly.

Enzan picked the first paper off the stack and began to look it over. "A new security system," he noted. "Heh… if I didn't know any better I'd sat this looks like…" he suddenly stopped and checked the name of the developer. "Netto…" he finished.

"Is that Netto-san's program?" Blues asked.

Enzan nodded and continued to flip through the pages, "It is," he murmured as he continued to scan for small defects for errors. "And it's really good," he added.

"Is it?" Blues asked while raising an eyebrow.

Enzan nodded, "Yeah, I can see why father commissioned from Sci Labs, this will help to protect the program we're developing well." Enzan smirked and outlined something with a highlighter, "He still got the firewall code wrong though," he said with a grin.

Blues shrugged but he could help but grin himself. "Well, that's fairly common for any programmer."

Enzan nodded, "I'm well aware of this, Blues," he replied. "But Netto always manages to do it in some odd way… here," he said and pointed at a line of coding. "If this code was used then the firewall would be indestructible to any attack unless it's power was below 30."

Blues shook his head, "Of course."

"It's not on purpose, I'm sure," Enzan said, "But still amusing."

"Enzan-sama?" his secretary called through the phone.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Your… friend is here. He says that you promised to leave at five today."

Enzan glanced at the clock, "That I did," he replied.

Netto's voice came through the receiver, "Come on Enzan, we're going to be late picking up Laika."

Enzan sighed and set down the sheaf of paper. "Hold on, I'm coming," he answered while looking around for his coat and PET.

Netto and Enzan walked out of the building next to each other on the way to Netto's car. "Interesting security program," Enzan said with a grin.

Netto looked over at Enzan, "You're reviewing it?" he asked.

Enzan nodded, "Yeah, it was given to me today."

Netto sighed, "And?" he asked.

"I think it's very well written," Enzan said. "With a few… quirks," he admitted.

Rockman laughed, "I'm sure more then a few," he said.

Enzan shook his head, "I only just started so I wouldn't know."

"I love how much you guys trust me," Netto said dryly as they reached his car.

Rockman laughed, "Netto, everyone makes mistakes, it's part of life," he said.

Netto shrugged and got in the car.

"You just have a tendency to make a few more then others," Rockman added.

Enzan burst out in laughter while Netto seethed a little as he turned the key in the ignition. "Yeah, I love you too, Rockman," he said.

Rockman smiled and went into the navigation program for the car. "I know," he said. "Here's where Laika-san is staying," he added pointing to an area on the map.

Netto looked at it and nodded, "All right," he said.

Ten minutes later Netto pulled up to Laika's hotel and parked in front. They didn't even have time to get out of the car before Laika came out in comfortable jeans and a green sleeveless camouflage hoodie over a black long sleeved shirt. "Aren't you quick," Netto said with a raised eyebrow.

Laika got into the back of the car while Searchman said, "Laika-san is a little bored," he said for his operator.

Netto laughed out loud, "I bet," he said. "Staying in a hotel all day. Why didn't you do something?"

"Do what?" Laika asked.

Netto shrugged, "I don't know, go bowling or for a walk. Something."

Laika looked at him dubiously.

Netto merely shrugged, "I'm just saying," he said.

Enzan smiled, "So where are we going?" he asked.

"The park," Netto and Rockman replied.

"Where," Enzan asked again.

Netto grinned, "Looks like you'll have to wait and see."

"Netto, where are we going?" Laika asked.

Netto shrugged, "Rockman was the one who picked it out, I'm just following the coordinates."

"Rockman?" Blues asked.

Rockman smiled, "Don't worry, it's not an amusement park," he said quietly. "I just wanted it to be a surprise."

"What?" Searchman asked.

Rockman smiled, "That is Netto-kun's part," he said mysteriously.

"You two scare me sometimes," Enzan said.

Netto laughed, "We know," he replied.


	14. Chapter 14

A few hours later Netto pulled into a parking lot near a sleepy looking open field.

"Where are we?" Laika and Enzan asked.

"We're at a picnic," he said with a grin.

Enzan blinked then looked at Netto. "You… amaze me."

Netto laughed, "Come on, I hate going into fancy restaurants. Let's just eat some ham and cheese sandwiches in the grass and relax."

Laika actually let himself smile, "Sounds good to me," he said.

Netto nodded back and walked to the back of the car and pulled out a basket, "Good," he said.

Enzan and Laika pulled out their PET's and followed Netto into the empty field. "Are you tired?" Netto asked Enzan.

"Why?" Enzan replied.

"You look tired," Netto said.

Laika gave Enzan a sidelong glance, "You do," he agreed.

Enzan crossed his arms, "Since when do you two care about how tired I am?" he asked.

Netto laughed, "When it possibly means we'll be going on assignment and you're half asleep."

Enzan opened his mouth, then thought the better of it and merely followed Netto.

They walked into a clearing and Enzan helped Netto spread a blanket onto the ground. Then they sat down and Netto opened the basket. Everyone reached in and got a sandwich. They sat for a few minutes in silence, enjoying the mere fact that they just weren't doing anything for once.

After awhile Netto finished off his sandwich and flopped onto his back. "So do I know how to plan a dinner or what?"

Enzan laughed, "I'll give you credit for that much. I wasn't expecting this."

"I don't mind," Laika said while taking another bite from his sandwich. "I'm just glad that I'm not training the new soldiers."

"Is it that hard?" Netto asked.

"Stressful," Laika said thoughtfully.

"You are the least patient person I know," Netto said. "No wonder."

Laika snorted and took another bite.

Searchman smiled and nodded, "Laika-san is having problems with keeping the recruits in line."

"Really?" Enzan asked.

Laika sighed, "Not trouble. It's just that they're…"

"Inexperienced?" Netto asked with a grin.

"Ha ha," Laika said dryly.

Searchman smiled, "It's a matter of how… skittish they are," he said.

"Oh," Enzan said knowingly.

"Is it really that bad?" Netto asked.

"It can be," he sighed.

Netto smirked and lay back down, "Ah well. You're taking a break at least."

"Thank god," Searchman muttered.

After a few hours of easy chatting they all stood up and picked up their things. They walked back to Netto's car and Netto dropped Laika off at his hotel. Then he dropped off Enzan. At the end of the day he walked into his own house and yawned. "That was a great day."

"Yeah," Rockman said.

"I'm glad we actually got Enzan and Laika to relax," Netto said with a grin. "Laika seemed pretty uptight."

"I'm sure he was," Rockman said.

"How could you tell?" Netto asked.

"Searchman," Rockman said simply.

Netto and Rockman both began to laugh. "But seriously, I think this was needed," Netto said.

"Oh, I'm well aware," Rockman teased. "You too you know."

Netto shrugged. "I know," he said simply.

Rockman blinked as an e-mail came into the PET. "Enzan wants to meet you at his work building tomorrow morning."

Netto yawned, "Tell him all right. But I'll be there around 10."

Rockman nodded and made out the e-mail. "Going to bed?" Rockman asked.

Netto nodded, "See you in the morning."

"Night, Netto-kun," Rockman said and disappeared into his own link.

The next morning, Netto was nudged into wakefulness, not by Rockman but by Sitio and Red who were hungry. Netto groaned and pushed away the cat and dog only to have them jump back onto his bed and irritate him even more. Rockman, awakened by Netto's curses towards his pets looked down at the scene and started to laugh. "You forgot to feed them last night," Rockman said with a small giggle.

Netto groaned again and curled up under his warm covers. "Go away," he told his cat and dog sternly. They decided not to listen. Instead Sitio nosed his way under Netto's covers and began to meow loudly while Red just sat on top of his owner.

Rockman snorted with laughter and tried to stifle it so as to not make Netto even more upset. "They're hungry," he said with a small quiver in his voice.

"They're double teaming me!" Netto screeched.

"Smart pets," Rockman noted while bringing his hand up to his mouth so he wouldn't give away his amusement.

Netto groaned and moved around a bit so that Red would jump off. Then he picked up Sitio and pushed the cat out from under his covers. Then he pushed back the covers and sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "What time is it?" he asked.

"Nine," Rockman answered. "I was going to wake you up soon anyways."

Netto yawned and got out of bed. "Fair enough," he muttered and wandered out of his bedroom with his cat and dog at his heels. He walked into the kitchen and put food and water in their bowls which they immediately began to devour. With a satisfied grin, Netto put up the food and wandered into the bathroom for his early morning shower.

Netto came out of the bathroom twenty minutes later with a toothbrush in his mouth while rubbing his hair dry. Rockman directed him to his various supplies that he would need for his meeting with Enzan that day and by 9:45 he was out the door and on his way.

At about 10:05 Netto made his way into Enzan's office, yawning slightly, but overall not feeling to badly.

"Morning, Netto," Enzan said without looking up from his computer screen. "You're late."

Netto shrugged, "Only five minutes. I got stuck on a detour in the freeway. I was up at nine."

Enzan blinked, "Really? Did a bomb go off by your house?"

Netto glared at him while Rockman laughed. "Worse, his pets were hungry."

"Ah," Enzan said knowingly. "I have no idea why you have pet's Netto. You're busy enough as it is."

Netto shrugged, "They were strays, I took them in."

"You could have taken them to the animal shelter," Enzan pointed out.

Netto shook his head, "They were fully grown though, they'd never get adopted."

Enzan looked at Netto, the computer screen light reflecting off his reading glasses. "You're too nice for your own good, you know that?" he asked.

Netto shrugged, "So? I don't care. Now, what's this about my program?" he asked.

Enzan nodded and pulled the disk out of his computer. "Well, I've been editing it and it looks like we're going to be able to use it. However as the programmer you are the one who has to install it and upload it onto our computers, after meeting with my dad of course."

Netto gulped, Enzan's dad made him nervous. "What is the program for?" he asked.

Enzan took off his glasses and rubbed his head, "The program is for a new program we're developing."

"What is it?" Netto asked.

Enzan smirked, "Why should I tell you?"

"Because I'm your friend and I'll find out anyway whether you tell me or not," Netto replied.

Enzan opened his mouth, then closed it, "True," he admitted. "Well, the program is basically a wipe program, only it only seeks out virus data and deletes that without causing harm to navis or programs. It's still very glitchy but it's far enough along that it needs a security program."

Netto nodded, "That sounds pretty cool. So, I take it this is to avoid the need for using Navis to delete viruses?"

"Kind of, more so it's to free up Navis to get into harder areas and delete the viruses or navi that's causing the problem there," Enzan pointed out.

"So, is my program good enough?" he asked.

Enzan nodded, "I've finished pulling out the small things, I'm sure you still have back doors into it," he said dryly.

Netto shrugged, "Back doors are needed in case it malfunctions. You know that."

Enzan nodded, "I know. So, you need to take it to my dad now and let him look at it. These kinds of decisions have to be finalized by him."

Netto sighed and held out his hand for the disc, "All right," he said.

Enzan gave Netto a small smile and handed him the program. "My dad isn't that bad."

Netto laughed shortly, "You vastly underestimate your dad's glaring ability," he said dryly.

"No, I'm well aware," Enzan replied. "But that doesn't bother me as much after almost 27 years."

Netto nodded and slipped the disk into his pocket. "Yeah, I'm sure. I'll be back at five if you're not gone yet."

Enzan shrugged and put his glasses back on, "All right, I'll be gone then."

Netto smirked as he left his office, "Yeah right," he said under his breath.

Netto rode up the long elevator ride to Shuuseki's office. He sighed and fingered the program disk in his pocket. "Enzan's dad makes me nervous," Netto sighed.

Rockman shrugged, "He is technically your boss in this situation."

Netto made a face, "I know that, but still. He reminds me of Enzan when we first met."

Rockman nodded, "Even worse in some regards."

Netto laughed hollowly, "No kidding."

The elevator dinged pleasantly and the doors slid open to reveal one lone door in front of it. Netto stepped up to it and knocked softly. The door clicked and he stepped inside to see Shuuseki sitting behind a large desk looking quite formidable in front of a large window that cast his own form in shadow. /The man knows how to make an impression, doesn't he/ Netto asked Rockman with a small mental laugh.

/First impressions are the lasting ones/ Rockman replied.

"So, you wrote the security program?" Shuuseki asked.

Netto nodded and stepped forward until he was at his desk. "Yes sir," he said and pulled the disk out of his pocket.

Shuuseki took it and eyed it, "Just because you are my son's friend doesn't mean I will be any more lenient on you. I do not work that way."

"I'm well aware," Netto said as pleasantly as he could.

Shuuseki put the disk into his computer and loaded the program without replying. He opened the program and analyzed it on his computer with a thoughtful frown. It took him close to twenty minutes while Netto stood there because there was no chair on the other side of the desk. /This man hates me/ Netto hissed.

/I highly doubt that, Netto-kun/ Rockman replied /He's probably like this to everyone./

/Then why isn't there a chair/ Netto snapped.

/His way of being superior/ Rockman pointed out. /Again, I'm sure he's this way to everyone./

Netto crossed his arms/I can see why Enzan acted the way he did when he first met him./

/You say that ever time we see his dad/ Rockman sighed.

/Do I/ Netto asked.

/Yes/ Rockman replied.

Shuuseki cleared his throat and held up the disk, handing it back to Netto. "It will do," he said simply. "Hand it in to my secretary downstairs and schedule a time for you to come in and install it."

/It will do? I worked for weeks on this thing/ Netto yelled at Rockman.

Rockman winced/I'm aware. Just let's go before you say something stupid./

Netto nodded stiffly, "All right," he snapped and left the room.

Shuuseki had already turned back to his work but Netto opted not to notice this.

Later that night while Netto was making dinner for himself and Enzan he was still steaming over his meeting with Shuuseki. "I can't believe he's your father!" Netto growled.

"I can," Enzan said dryly. "Or did you forget what I was like when we first met?"

Netto coughed uncomfortably, "Yeah," he said softly. Then his anger decided to return in full force, "But still! How could anyone act like that to other people! He didn't even see me as a person he just saw me as someone who made a program for him!"

Enzan shrugged, "And he sees me as his vice president," he replied.

Netto clamped his mouth shut before he could say anything else that would make Enzan upset at him.

Enzan walked into the kitchen and stood behind Netto. "I'm not upset at you," he said softly. "I'm just saying that whether you like it or not, that is the kind of person my father is. To tell you the truth, your father has been more of a dad to me over the past years then Shuuseki."

"Why do you call him 'sir' or Shuuseki?" Netto asked.

Enzan shook his head and leaned on the counter. "I don't know," he murmured. "After my mother died I couldn't really bring myself to call him Father to his face and after awhile it just didn't come at all."

Netto frowned and continued to stir the simply chili that he was making for dinner. "Ouch, I'm sorry."

Enzan gave Netto a small smile for his benefit. "It's all right, Netto. I'm used to it after all these years."

Blues entered Rockman's room and looked around for the blue navi. He found him lying on his bed, face up with a pillow over his face to block out something. What, Blues didn't know but he was going to try and find out. He walked across the room and sat on Rockman's bed, making it dip a little and causing the navi to give a small grunt of indignation. "Were you really asleep?" Blues asked him.

Rockman sighed under the pillow then removed it from his face, "Almost," he admitted. "Netto-kun has been complaining all day since we met Shuuseki-san," he growled.

Blues gave Rockman a wry smile. "Enzan-sama's father can be… very difficult to get along with," he admitted.

Rockman shook his head, "Blues, you don't understand. I don't mean complain out loud, I mean he thought about it all day. And it gave me a very bad headache."

Blues nodded his head. "I can see this. Does Netto-san know he caused you this pain?"

Rockman shook his head, "No, he doesn't. And in all fairness he's probably not even aware. Shuuseki-san really rubs Netto-kun the wrong way."

"He rubs most people the wrong way," Blues said dryly.

Rockman gave Blues a half hearted smile at the catty retort. "Not fond of Enzan-san's father I see," Rockman noted while pushing himself up and sitting cross-legged away from Blues on the bed.

Blues shrugged and his mouth twisted in a small frown. "I was given to Enzan-sama when he was a very small child, Rockman. Of course this was after his mother had died so I know nothing of his treatment before hand and Enzan-sama really does not like to talk about anything that has to do with his mother. His father is someone who does not like to show any outward emotion and merely pushes people as he does navis to get what he wants when he wants.

"I have no idea how he became like this. For all I know he was a completely different man before his wife died, but somehow I doubt that. Regardless, Shuuseki is Enzan's father but he is by no means a dad to him. I know that sounds harsh but, that's the way it is," Blues finished.

Rockman nodded, "Yeah, I know. I find it sweet that you care about Enzan-san so much," Rockman said with a smile.

A tiny blush tinged Blues' cheeks. "Well, he needed it," he said finally.

Rockman laughed, "Most people do need attention and love, Blues. It's a trait belonging to Navi and human."

Blues looked at the happy-go-lucky navi who had completely abandoned his sulky demeanor in favor of his own problems in a matter of minutes. He nodded and even went so far as to let a small smile cross his lips for Rockman's sake. "Yes," he agreed.

Rockman stretched and fell back into the sheets with his hands over his head. "Netto-kun is feeling better," he noted with a grin.

"Oh?"

"He's also guarding his thoughts for some reason," Rockman chuckled. "I wonder what he's talking about with Enzan?"

"Are you going to find out?" Blues asked.

Rockman shook his head, "If he wants me to know, then he'll tell me in due time. I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason. And if he's venting about his meeting earlier today then I pity Enzan, very much."

Blues outright smiled at that comment. "Poor Enzan-sama," he said.

Rockman laughed and nodded, "Indeed."

Netto and Enzan were far from sharing frustration as they slowly sipped the hot stew that Netto had made for them. If anything, the conversation about Enzan's father had turned in an unexpected direction and Netto was beginning to learn about Enzan's life before he got Blues and Netto figured something so private should not be shared, for Enzan's sake.

"My mom was…" Enzan slowly stirred his soup. "Amazing," he said with a small smile. "She had this garden that had everything you could possibly imagine in it. Roses and herbs and things like that. She was almost always sick, I remember. I'm not sure if she had a bad immune system or if the sickness that took her life started before my memories begin. Regardless, she loved that garden and right up until she was bed ridden she would try so hard to tend it at least once a day."

Netto smiled softly and took a bite, "Sounds like my mom. She can't go a day without messing with her little flower garden outside."

Enzan nodded, lost in thought, "Yeah, I remember that about your mom. First time I saw her she was hunched over her flowers."

Netto took another bite and chewed it thoughtfully, "Your mom seemed like she was a really nice person. Every time I hear something about her, it's nice."

"The servants?" Enzan asked.

Netto nodded, "Yeah, I'm assuming 'Lady' is your mother, right?"

Enzan grinned, "Yeah, she hated having the 'sama' tacked onto her name. She declared she was no one's master. But the servants could never bring themselves to call her by her first name and 'san' or even her last name and 'san' so they began to call her 'Lady' and she never renounced it. I figured she was content with a nickname like that and was tired of arguing with the cleaning staff."

Netto laughed, "You know, for some reason it only strengthens what I've heard about her."

"Like what?" Enzan asked while taking a small bite of the soup. To his amazement he found that it was spicy and good so he took another, larger bite.

Netto looked slightly annoyed, "I can cook you know. I don't have a cooking staff to make my meals for me."

Enzan grinned sheepishly, "What have you heard about my mom?" he asked, trying to steer the conversation away from the impending argument.

Netto looked thoughtful, "Just small things. Like once, someone broke something and your dad blew up at them. After he left I heard the woman mutter 'Lady would have never said those things,' while she cleaned up. Small stuff like that."

Enzan nodded, "What little of the staff we still have from before mom died still hold her in very high regards. I've noticed things like that too."

"They like you too, now," Netto pointed out with a grin.

Enzan took a defiant bite of the soup, "I blame you for that," he said through his food.

Netto laughed, "I hope so!" he exclaimed and finished off his bowl. He stood up from the table to get seconds and while in the kitchen, something came to his mind. "What now, as far as my program?" Netto called from the kitchen.

Enzan took another bite and looked thoughtfully into his bowl. "Well, Shuuseki deemed it worthy of being put to use so I'm guessing the bugs will be worked out and in a few days it will be installed."

"Fun," Netto said. "I take it my presence is required?"

"You're the programmer," Enzan replied as Netto sat back down at the table. "I would hope so."

"Well, at least it will be a small reprieve," Netto sighed.

Enzan smiled, "New project?"

Netto nodded, "Busy one too. But don't worry, I won't break our promise."

"Darn, and I was thinking about what I could make you do," Enzan grinned.

"Shut up," Netto laughed good naturedly.

Rockman relaxed a little when Netto's mental guard went down for a bit. "I think they were talking about Enzan-san's mom," he said softly.

"That doesn't happen often," Blues replied.

Rockman shook his head, "No, it doesn't. I'm guessing he misses her though."

Blues smiled wryly, "Oh, I'm sure. I just don't hear much about it."

Rockman shrugged, "Enzan-san's not one to wear his emotions on his sleeve," he pointed out.

Blues nodded, "Netto-san is very good at forcing him too."

Rockman snorted, "Forcing, being the key word there."

"You do the same thing," Blues said with a tiny laugh.

"Do I?" Rockman asked.

Blues nodded, "Yes, you do."

"Hmm…" Rockman said thoughtfully.

Later that night after Blues and Enzan had left, Netto climbed into bed and got ready to turn out the light. "Tired?" Rockman asked.

"Yeah," Netto replied. "But not too bad. We'll see how Wednesday goes."

Rockman nodded, "I'm sure," he replied while turning out his own lights.

Netto chuckled and flipped off the light next to his bed. "Night, Rockman."

"Good night, Netto-kun," Rockman replied and curled up into his bed.

After about ten minutes there was a large thumping sound and Netto's thoughts slowly became active. "Red and Sitio?" Rockman asked sleepily.

/Yes, and the damn cat is right on my head/ Netto growled.

Rockman snorted into his pillow and decided not to answer for fear of saying something he might regret.

Monday and Tuesday came and went rather quickly with a small amount of normalcy. Netto went to work, he dragged Enzan out of his office and they spent the two nights talking together and eating what little Netto's culinary skills could produce.

Finally Wednesday rolled around bright, early and promising.

Netto really didn't care.

"Come on Netto-kun, we should get ready now so we won't be late. Trust me, Shuuseki doesn't seem to be the kind of person to take late comers kindly," Rockman chided his operator.

Netto groaned and pulled the covers tighter around himself, making Sitio move a little and earning Rockman an icy glare from the cat. "Sorry kitty but Netto-kun needs to go to work and he knows it."

The cat blinked slowly, yawned and put his head back into his paws. "Exactly," Netto muttered from under the covers and curled up even tighter.

"Stop acting like a little kid and get up," Rockman said sternly.

"When I know there's coffee out there for me, I'll get out of bed," Netto promised.

Rockman sighed and linked into the kitchen server to start up the coffee maker. After ten minutes the hot liquid was ready and Rockman returned to rouse his twin.

Grumbling, Netto made his way into the kitchen bleary eyed and with no bushy tail to speak of. "Morning," Rockman said cheerfully from the kitchen monitor.

"Mornin," Netto drawled and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"How late were you up last night?" Rockman asked him.

"Till about 1:30," Netto yawned. "I took some work home and then I started to play the new online game and lost track of time," he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

"I'm not paying for it," Rockman said dubiously. "Now hurry up, we need to get ready."

"I'm hurrying," Netto assured his navi while taking another slow sip of his morning beverage.

"Right, I'm totally assured," Rockman said dryly.

Netto smiled and took another sip, "We have two hours," he reminded his navi.

"I know," Rockman replied. "But you seem to have the ability to eat up two hours and make it like those two hours never existed."

"I worked years on that talent!" Netto said in an offended tone while grinning wickedly over his cup of coffee.

Rockman rolled his eyes, "Just get ready."

Netto nodded and finished off his coffee, "All right, I'm going," he sighed. He walked over to the sink and set his porcelain coffee cup in it to be washed later that day and went back in his room to change.

"Getting ready, Netto-kun?" Rockman asked him.

"Yes," Netto replied and came out of his room ready to go.

"Okay Netto-kun, let's go," Rockman said.

"Right," Netto answered and picked up his car keys. "We're out of here," he announced as he picked up his PET and walked out the front door.

"Finally," he said with a sigh of relief. "We're going to be there on time."

"I told you we would," Netto said airily as he got into his car.

"Of course you did," Rockman assured him as he logged into the car's system.

Enzan checked his watch and let out a slow breath. "Oh boy," he sighed.

"Enzan-sama, he still has about five minutes before he's actually late," Blues reminded his operator.

"I know," Enzan replied. "But do you really trust him to be on time?" he asked.

"It depends," Blues answered diplomatically.

"What does that mean?" Enzan asked him.

"Rockman just sent me an e-mail. They're in the building and stuck in the elevator," Blues told him.

"You're joking," Enzan sighed while rubbing his forehead. "Please, please, tell me you're joking."

"I'm sorry Enzan-sama, but I'm not joking," Blues replied.

"He's a net savior, can't he fix it?" Enzan growled. "Shuuseki is going to be here any second."

"It's not a virus problem," Blues explained. "It's a problem with the actual elevator. He's really stuck, Enzan-sama."

"The first day he is on time, he gets stuck in an elevator, unbelievable," Enzan sighed.

Netto groaned and let his head thump dully against the metallic wall of the elevator, "The first day I'm on time, I get stuck in an elevator, I can't believe it."

Rockman shrugged, "Well, that's life. I contacted Blues and they should be here soon."

"I mean the elevator really broke down!" Netto yelped. "Like, the elevator broke down! Not viruses, not some kind of silly program error, the freaking elevator broke down!"

"Yes Netto-kun, we've established that," Rockman sighed. "Please be patient."

Netto rubbed his temples, "I'm trying, I really am. It's just…"

"I know," Rockman replied. "I'm well aware of what's going on in your head. Just be patient for a little bit. Everything will work out just fine."

Netto groaned and laid his head against the wall again. "I just want the stupid elevator to work again."

There was a metallic knock above him and the cover came off. "I can do the next best thing," Enzan's voice said through it.

Netto looked up and grinned, "Oh thank god," he said happily.

"Hello," Enzan said and held his arms down. "Grab on."

Netto took Enzan's hands and felt himself get pulled through the ceiling. "Ow!" he yelped when his elbow hit the side.

"Sorry," Enzan said quickly. "I didn't mean to pull that hard. Why didn't you come out yourself?"

Netto grunted as he got the rest of the way out. He blushed, "I couldn't. There was no one in here to help me up."

Enzan smiled. "Ah, it all makes sense now. Come on," he said and pointed out the open doors.

"Yay," Netto said dryly and pulled himself out of the elevator doors. "Let's go. I worked damn hard to not be late."

Enzan nodded and followed Netto. "Right," he agreed. "Let's go because we're going to be out of time in three minutes."

Together Enzan and Netto made it over to the floor where the program was being installed and saved. "On time," Netto breathed happily.

"Barely," Shuuseki said dryly.

"Be thankful," Netto muttered back and walked over to the computer. "Do I need to activate it?" he asked.

Shuuseki nodded, "That is the idea, Hikari-san. As you have the activation code."

Netto shut his eyes tightly and willed away the angry response his mind had come up with for him. "All right," he said through clenched teeth.

Enzan sighed, he knew he was going to be the one listening to Netto's complaining later that day.

Netto opened his security program and typed in the activation code. "Ready?" he asked.

"Any time," Shuuseki said coolly.

Netto slowly clenched his fist and waited a few more moments, just long enough to let Shuuseki clear his throat once before typing in the activation code. "It's up," he announced. "Just tell me when you need me to take it down and I'll deactivate it."

"All right," Shuuseki said and turned on his heel. "I'm going back to my office, please take care of them, Enzan."

"Yes, sir," Enzan replied.

Netto rolled his eyes but resisted the urge to stick out his tongue at the man's back. That was too immature for him. However, thinking all manner of angry things at him wasn't.

"Netto-kun," Rockman groaned softly.

Later that night, after dinner and a long complaining conversation with Enzan, Netto crawled into bed and fell asleep rather quickly.

Rockman grinned and went to bed himself not long after.

Later that evening, Rockman received an emergency e-mail from Blues. He opened it and read it silently, "Netto-kun…" he said softly.

"Hm?" Netto groaned.

"Enzan-san's program was just stolen," Rockman said softly.

Netto sat up in bed and whirled around to face his navi. "What!" he gasped.

Rockman nodded, "I just got the e-mail. Apparently it was stolen with your program still attached."

Netto frowned as he pulled on his lab coat. "So that means that the program is still secure. Anyone know who did it?"

Rockman shook his head, "Not yet they don't. I just now got the e-mail."

Netto sighed and grabbed his PET. "Let's go then," he said while heading out the door.

Enzan turned around as his name was called behind him. He turned around to see Netto waving his arm in greeting as he ran over to his friend. Enzan smiled weakly and nodded as Netto came up to him. "So, you got the news?"

Netto nodded, "Yeup, so is it too soon to know who stole it?"

"We've heard rumors of the Net Terrorist group headed by Fujiko Yamato did it," Enzan said dryly. "This program uses a lot of energy Netto. If she found out how to reverse that energy flow…"

Netto gulped, "Okay. I get it. So now what?"

"Now, I suggest we take off the day and head to HQ to see what we can do. Your program will only hold her off for so long."

Netto nodded, "I already did. My boss understood. It's not every day your program gets stolen," he said dryly. "She wasn't happy about being called up at 2:30 am though," he added as an after thought.

Enzan sighed and looked back on the scene of panicking engineers and IPC spokespeople running around. "Let's go. Laika said he'd meet us there."

Netto nodded, "Lead the way," he said earnestly as they left the increasing panic.

Eventually they made it to the HQ where Andréa and her brother were waiting just inside. "I can't believe this happened!" she gasped as soon as they walked in. "Fujiko got the jump on us again."

Laika stood up and walked over from his silent corner. "I heard it was your security program," he said to Netto.

Netto nodded in reply, "Yeah. She won't break it so easily, but we are definitely on borrowed time."

Mejin came out and handed them all maps. "We've managed to pin point her location for her heist last night. If you can make it in time then we might be able to catch her today."

Netto's eyes lit up, "Can I drive?"

Enzan and Laika both gave him wary looks. "Netto…"

"I'm the fastest driver," Netto said with a wicked grin. "And you both know it."

Andréa nodded fervently, "Yes you can drive. Just get us there now!"

Netto grinned, "It's three am, I've had one cup of coffee and there's really nothing to loose. Let's go."

"Don't kill us," Enzan muttered as they quickly walked out of the familiar building.

Netto nodded, his face then serious. "I won't. Let's just get there in time."

Enzan's features relaxed into a quick smile before his eyes turned forward. "Let's go."

They all piled into Netto's small car. It barely fit the five people, but somehow it managed. As Netto flew through the back streets of Den San everyone around him clung onto anything they deemed solid for dear life.

"This isn't the way!" Andréa cried out.

"Yes it is!" Netto called back to her as he made a sharp left. "Trust me, I used to do this all the time about five years ago."

"I don't miss it," Enzan groaned.

"I'm the best driver there is," Netto smirked. "I had the best times for anyone on scene."

"When you didn't hit anything," Laika said quietly.

Edward and Andréa both blanched as Netto continued to drive them towards their destination.

Finally they made it to the small office building in the older section of the down town area where the program was rumored to have been traced. They all got out of the car, albeit a bit shakily and scoped out the building. "Looks abandoned," Netto murmured.

"Let's check it out," Andréa said solemnly and walked over to the door. She reached out and turned the handle and to her great surprise the door opened.

"Something's not right," Enzan hissed.

Netto looked around, "I know. This is too easy. The tracing, the building, it almost seems like…"

"A trap?" a calm voice asked behind him.

Everyone in the group whirled around to face a tall woman in her late forties. She had cold black eyes and short brown hair and a cruel grin to match any darkloid's. "You kids were always to cautious for your own good," she smirked. "Glad to see none of the originals have died yet. Makes my plan for revenge so much easier."

Netto held his PET behind his back and let Rockman into the net. "Oh really?" he asked the woman, his teeth flashing in a tight smile. "Is that what this is all about?"

"That and getting rid of the thing called the internet that has been bogging down human kind for decades," she hissed.

/Still insane as ever/ Netto noted with nonchalance.

/Live now, sarcastic comments later/ Rockman told him as he scouted around for something to use. /How about a fire hydrant./

Netto looked and saw one right behind her. /Go for it/ he told his navi.

Rockman shot at the program several times with his buster and heard a screech in the real world as Fujiko got soaked. Without a word, Netto, Laika and Enzan all disappeared from the scene to hide in between the alleyway created by two buildings.

Edward pulled his bedraggled and now very wet sister over to them and put his hand over her mouth before she could protest.

Fujiko screeched her rage and stepped out of the jet of water, looking like a wet cat. "Don't think you got away," she yelled out. "There are security cameras all over the place!"

"What took so long?" Enzan asked.

"Not much to work with here," Netto frowned as Rockman came back into his PET. "We're lucky that was there."

"Security cameras my ass," Andréa hissed. "I'll take those out in a second!"

Staccato vanished and reappeared in the net to look around cautiously. "I see, two, three, four…" she paused, "There are about ten programs in all here," she said quietly.

"Only way to take them out is to hit them all at once," Edward said silently as Legato went into the net. "Two at once."

Andréa nodded, "Yeah. That could work."

Blues, Searchman and Rockman all went back into the net and stood back to back with the other navis. "Two per navi then?" Rockman asked.

Legato nodded, "It's the easiest way."

"On the count of three," Andréa said softly. "One, two… three!"

Netto slotted in a bubble side chip while Blues let off a sonic boom. Searchman was so quick with his firing that he merely needed to fire off two shots in rapid succession so that they hit the two programs at the same time. Staccato held out her hands and let two projectile whips come from them to hit the programs and Legato used a simple buster that split into two identical shots after it was fired. All of the security programs fell off line at the same time much to their delight.

From inside the building they could hear a cry of rage. "Step one worked," Netto said with a tiny grin as they all went inside quietly.

"Now we just need to get the program," Laika murmured.

Together the group ran inside and turned the corner to hide in a small hallway in order to continue their plan. "Damn I've missed this," Netto said while breathing heavily from running around so much. "What's next?"

"We have to find that program," Andréa murmured. "I'm guessing, to make sure that no one gets caught we should split up and look for it separately. We're too easy to spot as a single group."

Netto nodded, "Good decision."

"You can find where that program is in two seconds," Enzan murmured in his ear. "Why are you agreeing to this?"

"I can't let the kids see Rockman and me do this," Netto murmured back. "It'll lead to unwanted questions."

Enzan nodded and straightened up. "Okay, let's split up but if you've searched everywhere you can in your area, lets agree to meet back here. Once you find something, send a text e-mail, no video links. Those are too easy to track."

Edward nodded and patted Andréa's arm. "Let's go," he murmured. "They've been doing this far longer then we have."

Andréa seemed to reconsider her reply and nodded, "All right. Text it is," she said softly and looked around the corner. As soon as she noted that the coast was clear she went down a separate hallway. Edward nodded at the three of them then vanished as well, going down a separate hallway from his sister.

"Well?" Laika turned to Netto.

Netto plugged Rockman into the internet. "All of my programs have a signature that I put in manually to make sure that no one can copy them," Netto murmured. "And only I can access it."

"I figured you would do such a thing," Enzan said with a gentle smile. "So, let's start this."

Netto nodded and opened a screen up on his PET. "All right, Rockman," he murmured. "Where is that program?"

Rockman opened up a window and scanned it. "The program is… about 50 meters away from this location. Since I don't have a map I can't tell you which room but I can tell you that it's to the right of my current location." He took his hand off the window and closed it, "Does that help?" he asked.

Netto nodded, "Yeah. That helps. Let's go," he said softly.

Together the three of them went down the hallway and about 10 meters down they found a locked door. "Enzan?" Netto asked. "You wanna take care of this?"

Enzan let Blues go into the program and nodded. "You're right, I did miss this," he said while scanning the program in his PET. "I liked doing this."

Netto chuckled, "Too bad real life tends to get in the way of adventures like this."

"Oh yes," Laika replied dryly. "Because nothing says adventure like making sure you don't blow up the nearest net port because you can't control your link."

Netto bristled, "I only did that once," he hissed at Laika.

"Shhh…." Rockman murmured.

Netto shut up and watched as Enzan got through the program. "This is easier then I remember."

"Probably comes from scanning programs every day," Netto pointed out. "You've learned all the back doors that way."

The door clicked and Enzan opened it. "Speaking of back doors, I couldn't find the back door on your program. Where is it?"

Netto grinned, "Good and I'm not telling. You find it yourself."

Laika smirked as they walked in. "Still cheeky as ever."

"You know that's why you love me," Netto joked as he wrote out an e-mail to Edward and Andréa.

Laika shrugged, "I know that's one of the reasons that you annoy me, not exactly love per se."

Enzan's shoulders shook as he tried to suppress a laugh as Netto glared at his friend. "Har har, very funny."

"Oh, I think it's hilarious," a silky voice said behind them.

Netto didn't even have to turn around. "Hello Fujiko," Netto sighed.

"Hello brat," she hissed.

"Aw come on, I'm grown up now. You can do better then that," Netto baited her as he turned around to face the woman.

Her face melted into an ugly sneer as she held up the gun she was holding. "Don't play with me, Hikari. I know that security program is yours. It has your style written all over it."

"Yay," Netto replied as he gave her a cutesy grin.

Enzan rolled his eyes. "Don't make her shoot you," he growled.

Netto snorted, "As if she should," he whispered back.

"You two shut up," Fujiko snapped. "Now, you're going to take that security program off or so help me, I will do much more then just shoot you."

Behind Fujiko Edward and Andréa came up to look over her shoulder. Netto winked at them briefly before turning his gaze back on Fujiko. "Nothing is below you, is it?"

"Now you're catching on," she said with a cold grin. "Now come on, I don't have all day."

Netto shrugged, "Yes but like you did ten years ago and like you're doing now you always manage to over look one rather large detail."

"What?" she hissed.

Andréa came up behind Fujiko and tapped her on the shoulder. The woman faltered and the spirited young Net Battler snapped her arm behind her and made her drop the gun. "We're here too, grandma," she hissed. "And we don't like being ignored."

Edward walked silently over to the gun and picked it up. He looked over to the men on the other side of the room and gave them a tiny smile.

"And that is how you use teamwork," Netto said happily.

Rockman laughed, "Even if it was Enzan-san's plan."

"Shut up," Netto said good naturedly as he called Mejin.

"Yes?" Mejin asked.

"We're done," Netto said with a grin. "You can come pick up the trash anytime."

Fujiko yelled something at Netto that he pretended not to notice while his friends rolled their eyes. Some things never changed, no matter how much time had passed.

With a happy sigh Netto fell back first onto his couch and stared up at the ceiling. "Thank god that's over with," he murmured.

Laika sat down into one of Netto's chairs and Enzan took his own seat at the opposite end of the couch by Netto's feet. "Tired already?" Rockman teased. "You're getting old, Netto-kun."

Netto snorted, "Not likely," he replied but kept his comfortable position on his back.

Enzan set his PET down and rubbed his temples. "I for one, am glad that came to a close. We still have our lives to return to."

"Thank you for that lovely reality check," Netto muttered at Enzan.

"Any time," Enzan replied.

"Well, at least I didn't have to use that to get through anything," Netto replied happily as he stretched his arms over his head.

"That?" Laika asked.

"The link," Netto said matter of factly. "I can use it to hack into data and manipulate it sometimes but it gives me the worst headaches."

"Like when you used it to finish that security program and you were half dead the next day," Enzan snapped at his friend.

Netto shrugged easily, "Hey, that security program is what kept your program from getting used in Fujiko's wonderfully fiendish scheme," he said to Enzan while saying 'fiendish scheme' a tad sarcastically.

Enzan sighed, "I'm not denying that but you're so lenient about those things."

Netto shrugged and laid his head on the pillow at the base of the couch. "And that's why we make such a great team, Enzan."

"Indeed," Blues said softly.

Rockman hid a tiny smile behind his hand as his twin remained clueless.

The next day Laika left the country to return to his job as the recruit trainer with renewed vigor. After being reminded that he no longer had to put up with a 12 year old Netto he had a slight different perspective on the job.

Enzan and Netto returned to work and continued to nag at one another, taking extreme measures to make sure that they were not the ones to loose the bet. Rockman and Blues watched the battle go back and forth with slight interest but they were slightly more interested in each other's company after awhile and often retreated to Blues' room to read, chat or just enjoy each other's company.

Meanwhile, Netto and Enzan were so interested in trying to win their little wager that little attention was paid to anything else. However, the fact that it kept Netto spacing his work load and Enzan leaving at sane hours of the day none of their co-workers really had anything to complain about so they didn't care.

Finally, one night they sat down to talk and came to a general realization without their navis there and their navis were very proud after they found out.

Netto wandered over to his couch and sunk into it with a sigh. Enzan followed him and pressed a cup of tea into his hands. "Tired?" he asked.

Netto nodded and sat up to take the beverage that was offered to him. "Yeah, but I'm fine. Just a little more on this program and it should be done by tomorrow."

"You're not cheating?" Enzan asked incredulously.

"I'm not using the link, no," Netto growled before taking a cautious sip of the scalding liquid.

Enzan set his own tea cup on a coaster and nodded while leaning back into the couch's cushions. "Good," he said simply.

Netto snorted and set his own cup down. "Why, don't trust me?"

"No, I do," Enzan said quickly. "I do… but…"

"Yes?" Netto asked him a little angrily.

"I'm just concerned. I mean, you've been pushing yourself lately and so have I," Enzan rubbed his temples. "This way of living is straining me for some reason."

"Rockman and Blues are just fine," Netto replied. "They're living at the same pace we are."

"Yeah, but they're navis," Enzan protested.

"No, they're just not stressed. What's wrong? Why are you so… uptight lately?" Netto asked his friend.

"You're the same, why don't you tell me?" Enzan shot back and glared at Netto.

Both men held one another's gaze then blushed and looked away simultaneously. Finally, Netto took in a deep breath; he knew someone had to say something. He had felt Rockman's affection for Blues for a long time and he knew it was time he came forward and said something. Not that it couldn't totally back fire but he knew he was driving Rockman nuts, so it was the only fair thing to do. "Enzan?" he asked.

"Hm?" Enzan replied, concentrating on a small coffee stain on the floor.

"What would you do if… hypothetically you liked someone, and that's why you were stressed?" Netto asked.

Enzan gulped, he knew it. Netto liked someone else, probably Meiru. They had been friends for so long, obviously he had an attraction to the pretty woman. "I don't know…" he said softly. "Confess?"

"What if… it's not that easy because you don't know how they would react?" Netto asked him.

"I'd still try. Better to do something then none at all," Enzan replied. And so I can put it out of my mind, he thought to himself.

Netto opened his mouth then closed it silently without saying a word. "What…" he said then suddenly he found his mouth to be unbearably dry. He closed his mouth and swallowed, "What if that person that someone else had a hypothetical attraction to was the same gender?"

Enzan brought his gaze up to Netto's and matched him stare for stare. "You mean like Rockman and Blues?"

Netto chucked weakly, "You noticed too, huh?"

"Who wouldn't?" Enzan replied.

"Yeah," Netto said softly.

Enzan let out a slow breath, "I think that if you come forward and admit your true feelings that the person should accept them, regardless of what gender they are."

Netto nodded and was silent for a bit. Finally he found his voice again, "Enzan?"

"I know," Enzan said softly. "Me too."

Netto smiled and leaned into Enzan's arms, surprising the taller man. "Good."

Enzan's mask of surprised melted into one of gentle caring as he held the man he knew that he loved. He nodded contentedly and offered no other words.

Rockman looked up from his book in Blues' room. "Finally!" he said with a smirk.

"Who confessed?" Blues asked without looking up from his own novel.

"Netto-kun, kind of. It just seemed to happen," Rockman said with a smile as he looked back down at the pages.

Blues shifted his weight so that Rockman could stretch a little. Both of them were on a couch and Rockman was curled into Blues. "Well then, I assume this is the end of this little saga."

"Watch as we dive right into the next," Rockman chuckled.

"Don't even say that," Blues muttered.

Rockman nodded and soon became absorbed with his own book once again. Both navis and both humans remained where they were for the remainder of the night, nestled in one another's embraces ready to face the world when the sun dawned anew. 


End file.
